THE COMMITMENT of care staff across Wigan and Leigh, to high quality palliative and end of life care for their residents and patients was recognised at an awards ceremony on Friday (June 25th).
The virtual event was held by the Hospice in Your Care Home team from Wigan and Leigh Hospice, which offers education and support to 52 Borough nursing and residential homes, supported living, Extra Care services and Learning Disability teams.
A total of 15 awards were handed out in 13 categories. Elmridge Court in Lowton, St George’s Nursing Home in Wigan and Carrington Court Nursing Home in Hindley scooped two awards each.
Elmridge Court received the Most Innovative Setting award for embracing the fundamental elements of good end of life care within an extra care setting and consistently demonstrating compassionate, person-centred care. The judges found Elmridge Court had gone above and beyond what is expected to give their residents the best experience possible in their final months, weeks and days.
Special Recognition
Julie Hughes, who worked at St George’s Nursing Home as Clinical Lead was posthumously given the Special Recognition Awards in light of her dedication to end of life care, and commitment to the hospice training. She was remembered for her compassion, kindness and ability to support not only the individuals in her care, but the staff that she managed.
Giving the award for Care Setting of the Year to Carrington Court for their ongoing dedication to enhancing the care of their residents and those important to them at the end of life John Almond, Inspector with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), said: “This home has shown great collaboration with the hospice, embracing all the training opportunities available to them, and demonstrating the impact of this education by implementing innovative ideas. All levels of staff have been consistently enthusiastic, and have shown high levels of empathy, and standards of care to everyone they look after.”
Debbie Jones, Manager of Hospice in your Care Home and member of the judging panel, said: “This year’s event was very different; it was the first time we have hosted such an occasion virtually, but as a team we felt it was important to acknowledge the tremendous work taking place across our Borough, and celebrate the continued commitment to end of life care, despite it being an extremely challenging time for health and social care staff.”
The Hospice In Your Care Home team has been a regular presence in nursing homes since November 2015, and now support many other care settings, working closely with staff to provide training and equip them with the practical skills and knowledge they need to provide sensitive, timely and compassionate end of life care.
Pandemic
The previous education programme was reviewed in May 2020, to make it more relevant to the particular issues being faced during the pandemic, and training began to be delivered online, to ensure staff still had access to learning opportunities at a time when on-site training wasn’t possible due to restrictions. The team hope to be back in care settings very soon delivering evidence based education and role-modelling to demonstrate best practice, ensuring that the care provided continues to be compassionate and dignified and staff feel confident to care for people at the end of their lives.
Education sessions are delivered on subjects such as how to communicate in difficult or distressing situations such as talking to residents or their families about a patient’s future care needs. Staff are also trained in how to recognise when someone is nearing the end of their life and how to anticipate what medication and pain relief may be needed.
Additionally, the team strive to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions made in the last few days of life by providing dedicated support and basic training in palliative and end of life care, and promoting advance care planning.
The Winners
The winners are as follows:
- Nurse of the Year
Lizzy Hutton, Carrington Court - Senior HCA of the Year
Deborah Sutton, Ancliffe House - Nursing Assistant of the Year
Julie Guest, Westwood Lodge - HCA/Support Worker of the Year
Sylvia Abozeid, The Acorns - Dignity Champion of the Year
Premila Jingree, The Old Rectory - Care Setting of the Year
Carrington Court - Manager of the Year – Joint winners
Kim Jackson, Elmridge Court
Tina Blake, High Peak Lodge - Deputy / Clinical Lead of the Year – Joint winners
Vibin Baby, St George’s and Roche Andre, Shawcross - Most Innovative Setting
Elmridge Court extra care service - Special Recognition Award
Julie Hughes, St George’s (winner of Deputy/Support Manager of the Year in 2019) - Non-clinical staff member of the Year
Vanessa Williams, Deanwood Manor - Peer Award
Katie Shakeshaft – Shawcross - Family and Residents Award
Andreea Sfrejea, Norfolk House