Winners of the Frances Jaye Care and Compassion Award announced
02 December 2014
Today (2nd December) the winners of the first ever Frances Jaye Care and Compassion Awards are announced today at a conference in central London. These prestigious awards, which recognise and promote exceptional care and compassion, are sponsored by the Clinical Human Factors Group (CHFG) and The Point of Care Foundation, two charities dedicated to working with healthcare staff to improve the quality of care through safety and compassion. The awards are in memory of Frances Jaye, a mother and healthcare worker whose family wanted a legacy to promote the values she stood for – compassion and good care – and to celebrate such values in others. In particular, the awards celebrate the way such values underpin safety and a positive patient experience.
We have great pleasure in announcing the winners as:
- Maria Davison, Staff Nurse at Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS FoundationTrust, for outstanding and compassionate care of a patient (in the individual category)
- Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Foundation Trust’s Older Adults Liaison Psychiatry Team at Addenbrooke’s Hospital (part of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS FT) for delivering care with sensitivity and kindness (in the team category).
The following teams and individuals received commendable mentions:
- Norma Langford, deputy charge nurse at NHS Ayrshire & Arran
- Jillian Hartin, manager of the patient emergency and response and resuscitation team, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- the intensive care nurse team and Royal Lancaster Infirmary.
Please see attached briefing note for more information on the winners and those receiving commendable mentions.
Jocelyn Cornwell, Chief Executive of The Point of Care Foundation, said: “Care and compassion are not optional extras, and patients shouldn’t be asked to trade one for the other. Patient safety and a positive experience are both integral to good quality of healthcare. This is the first time we’ve worked with the Clinical Human Factors Group on this important agenda, and we’ve been very pleased with the quality of the award nominations.
“Maria won this award for her great sensitivity and bravery. She spoke up on behalf of a marginalised patient and showed great empathy, courage and persistence in her desire to deliver person-centred care. The older adult’s psychiatric team at Cambridge University Hospital are doing excellent work in working across teams to support patients who are often distressed as the result of dementia, delirium and /or depression.”
Professor Jane Reid from the Clinical Human Factors Group, said: “It is truly fantastic to be working with the Jaye family and The Point of Care Foundation, to shine a light on excellent care givers and their exemplary practice. Too often our media is focussed on negative stories associated with healthcare delivery, however today represents an opportunity to celebrate the very best of best, notably the qualities and commitment that are universally recognised as assuring those we serve with the greatest of experiences. An outstanding field of nominees made it a difficult decision to reach, but today is a wonderful day to focus on the values, behaviours and practices we should all aspire to every day we are in practice.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
Frances Jaye died suddenly in July 2012. Prior to her death she was a fierce advocate of the importance of compassionate care, attributable in part to her experience of caring for her mother who suffered from multiple sclerosis. This led to Frances working in a hospice, as a GP receptionist and as a bereavement counsellor. Her own experience as a patient suffering from chronic arthritis added to her conviction that compassionate care giving is as important as the latest medical innovation. The award was established in her memory by the Jaye family, including her son Peter Jaye, who is a Consultant in emergency medicine at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
Award winners will receive an award of recognition and funding for travel, accommodation and conference fees to attend a human factors/safety conference, to enable them to identify opportunities to further support and advance a safety or compassion related activity back in their organisation.
The Clinical Human Factors Group is a broad coalition of healthcare professionals, managers and service-users who have partnered with experts in human factors from healthcare and other highrisk industries to campaign for change in the NHS. They are dedicated to promoting understanding of how human factors – including the work environment (such as noise levels, staffing levels, etc) and individual characteristics (stress, tiredness, etc) – can impact on safety and quality. Their vision is of a healthcare system that puts an understanding of human factors at the heart of improving clinical, managerial and organisational practice, leading to significant improvements in safety and efficiency. www.chfg.org
The Point of Care Foundation is an independent charity. Our vision is radical improvement in the way we care and are cared for. The Point of Care Foundation works to improve patients’ experience of care and increase support for the staff who work with them. We do this by providing evidence and resources to support health and care staff in the difficult work of caring for patients.
See our chief executive Jocelyn Cornwell’s blog for the Health Foundation on the link between safety and compassion: http://www.health.org.uk/blog/compassion-at-the-heart-of-safer-health-care/
Award nominees were judged by a panel of experts against the following categories:
- Communicating sensitively with patients and loved ones
- Listening carefully, showing empathy and instilling hope
- Understanding the significance of patients’ families and communities
- Speaking up to safeguard the rights and informed choices of patients
- Questioning, challenging and mitigating the potential for avoidable harm
- Choosing to act and be counted at a time of material risk to a patient, ensuring their voice is heard
- Demonstrating presence, self and situation awareness in their interactions with patients and families
- Seeing the ‘person in the patient’
- Challenging system problems that impact safe quality care.
For further information, please contact Creina Lilburne, communications manager for The Point of Care Foundation, on 020 7637 7252 or 07941 156 827. Please also see attached briefing note for further details on the winners and those receiving commendable mentions.
BRIEFING NOTE – Frances Jaye Care and Compassion Award winners and commendable mentions
WINNER: MARIA DAVISON, Staff Nurse, Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust
Nominator: Gavin Sykes, Staff Governor, Derbyshire Community Health Services Foundation Trust
Award Category: Individual
Qualities statement supplied by Gavin Sykes:
A transgender woman was admitted onto Maria’s ward. Maria found that the patient’s sex had been noted as ‘unknown’ and the patient had been placed in a sideroom away from other patients. Maria was horrified and immediately introduced herself to the patient, discussed what she had found and was then told by the patient that her hormone therapy had been stopped against her wishes (after years of battling to receive this). The patient was very emotionally distressed. Maria challenged senior medical staff and asked why the patient’s hormone therapy had been stopped. After several phone calls, Maria had the medical notes corrected, the hormone therapy reinstated and given the patient back her identity. The individual remained in Maria’s care for approximately two weeks during which time Maria escalated her concerns to the board of directors who in turn discussed the patient story and recognised the failings. Upon leaving Maria’s care, the patient sent Maria a letter of thanks stating that Maria was one of the few people in the NHS who had ever given her a voice, an identity and more importantly made her actually feel like a person. Maria showed compassion and disregarded the possible negative repercussions to herself that could incur as a result of challenging her colleagues.#
WINNER: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust’s Older Adults Liaison Psychiatry Team at Addenbrooke’s Hospital (part of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS FT)
Nominator: Mai Wong, Associate Specialist, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
Award Category: Team
Qualities statement supplied by Mai Wong:
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust’s Older Adults Liaison Psychiatry Team at Addenbrooke’s Hospital (part of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS FT) provides psychological medicine services to patients over the age of 65. The team has received high praise from patients and professionals for their compassionate approach to the care of often distressed, agitated patients and their families who are frequently frightened and bewildered by what is happening. They work hard to deliver person-centered care with sensitivity, kindness, and a smile and seek to break down barriers and challenge systems on behalf of patients and families. With good links into community teams, they work with patients and their families to access vital support on discharge. They also provide training to staff across the hospital to improve confidence and competence in supporting patients with mental health needs, especially dementia, delirium and depression. They are involved in developing system-wide improvements to the psychological care of acutely unwell patients and their families. The team is part of the larger Liaison Psychiatry Service at Cambridgeshire University Hospitals who are accredited as “excellent” by the Royal College of Psychiatrists Psychiatric Liaison Accreditation Network (2010, 2013).
COMMENDABLE mention: Norma Langford, Deputy Charge Nurse, NHS Ayrshire & Arran
Nominator: Josaleen Connolly, Macmillan Project Lead Education Programme in Palliative Care, NHS Ayrshire & Arran
Award Category: Individual
Qualities statement supplied by Josaleen Connolly:
Norma led on a piece of work to improve the communication with and care for newly bereaved families in her ward. Norma knew that without a death certificate it was not possible for families to complete funeral arrangements or begin to inform other agencies that their relative had died. She observed that often there was a delay in writing of death certificates by medical staff and rarely was the death certificate supplied by a member of the nursing team who the family recognised. Added to this, the ward environment was usually noisy and families often had to pass by the bed in which their relative had died. Norma created a simple process that communicated respect, empathy and sensitivity in offering newly bereaved families choice and understanding at a time of emotional distress. Norma introduced improved processes after asking her colleagues to ‘step into the shoes’ of a newly bereaved relative for a moment. The new process means that families are given a name of a member of staff to contact for information on when the death certificate will be ready for collection. The families are then offered a choice of places to meet within the hospital to receive their relative’s death certificate from a staff member they recognise, enabling greater sensitivity and better closure, particularly for the family.
COMMENDABLE mention: Jillian Hartin, Manager PERRT, UCLHospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Nominator: Judy Walker, Staff Engagement/Education Lead, UCLHospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Award Category: Individual
Qualities statement supplied by Judy Walker:
As a senior nurse leading the Patient Emergency Resuscitation service, Jillian demonstrates unfailing commitment to ensuring patients receive the highest standards of care. Her questioning, challenging and persistence has led directly to a massive reduction in patients having cardiac arrests as staff are now so much better at dentifing the early signs of deterioration. She is never afraid to speak out on their behalf or “go to the top” if necessary to get it right for patients. She mobilises people to do good things for patients and their families and brings them together across disciplines and divisions to make things happen. For example, a recent survey revealed the poor quality of some patients’ experiences of conversations with doctors about Do Not Attempt Resuscitation orders. In response, Gillian gathered a mixed group of staff together and enabled them to create a ground-breaking new training course to help develop doctors’ skills in this area. Sometimes she increases her own discomfort as a result of the constant challenge she poses to the organisation to get it right for patients, and she always works beyond her hours, but Jillian is universally respected and appreciated and her energy, self awareness humour and wisdom deserves acknowledgement.
COMMENDABLE mention: Intensive care nurse team, Royal Lancaster Infirmary
Nominator: Susan Hartley, Foundation Year 2 Doctor, Royal Lancaster Infirmary
Award Category: Team
Qualities statement supplied by Susan Harley:
The team of intensive care nurses at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary have a very stressful and emotional job caring for patients in the intensive care unit. They care on an individual level for all patients and show empathy towards both patients and family members. They care for patients with impaired consciousness levels, becoming the advocate for these patients and speaking up for their well-being and safeguarding their rights. They regularly deal with patients’ families who are emotional and in a very difficult place as their loved ones are so critically ill. This is a heavy strain and emotional burden for the nurses but they continually maintain high levels of care. The nurses always see the patient as an individual and a person and try to deal with not only the medical needs but also, where necessary or applicable, spiritual needs. Daily care given on the intensive care unit is of the highest standard. They have been an inspiration to me as an inexperienced junior doctor and have shown me what it truely means to care. They communicate at a level the patient and the families understand, delivering sensitive and emotive information. They are a wonderful, caring team of highly skilled, highly respected nurses.