Certificates of excellence awarded to two wards

Two of our wards have received awards for improving patient safety.

The Improvement Academy awarded Chantry, a 16-bed unit for older people in Wakefield, a ‘Silver certificate of excellence’ for going 39 days without an incident of aggression or violence.

The stroke unit in Barnsley also received a ‘Bronze certificate of excellence’ for going 15 days without a fall.

The teams achieved this by introducing daily five-minute safety huddles, where they meet to discuss ways to reduce and prevent specific areas of harm. They also use the time to learn lessons from previous events.

The Improvement Academy is part of the Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Science Network (AHSN), and supports work to improve services in a number of priority areas for patients and partners.

Helen Roberts, patient safety manager, said: “These teams are our first to be awarded certificates to celebrate their achievements in reducing in violence and aggression and falls by using safety huddles. Safety huddles are a great tool to improve patient safety and reduce harm and are obviously having a measurable impact.

“The daily huddles are informal, take five minutes a day, and are attended by anyone on the ward whether clinical or non-clinical. Everyone has a voice. They have brought the teams closer together as they’re taking time out daily to motivate and inspire each other to provide the best care through a preventative approach.

“Initiatives like this improve the culture of the organisation and we’re really proud of these achievements.”