A BARNSLEY Hospital initiative has won a national title in an awards programme which drives improvements in culture and quality across the NHS.
The winning project has helped speed up discharging children with minor head injuries.
The nurse-led training package for patients aged between two and 16, which won the Quality Improvement Initiative of the Year category at the HSJ Awards, has saved an estimated 300 hours in patient waiting time and 32 hours of healthcare professional time.
Since implementation, over 30 per cent of head injury cases have been discharged this way.
Strict criteria ensures the safety of discharged children, and audits show no increase in return visits with injury complications.
Lead Nurse, Lucy Schofield said: “We are beyond proud to receive this national recognition for our service. I am honoured to work amongst a fabulous team of professional who strive to provide the highest standards of care for the children, young people and families of Barnsley and the surrounding area.
“We are truly honoured to have received this patient safety award and when we heard we’d won, we knew it would mean a huge amount to our colleagues as well as the wider community, so massive thanks to all who support us. It provides an incredible boost to staff morale when we receive professional recognition for our hard work and furthermore, it gives us the incentive to continually improve the services we deliver and focus on overall patient experience.
“Everyone across the healthcare sector knows that the HSJ awards programme is an important and high-profile platform on which to share and showcase our work, which is why we’re so overwhelmed to have been named the overall winner in the 2024 Patient Safety Awards.
“We hope our success will encourage colleagues to follow in our footsteps next year.”
The HSJ Patient Safety Awards was hosted by comedian and presenter Zoe Lyons, who compered the proceedings and kept the audience of more than 1,000 healthcare workers entertained as the winners to all 25 categories were revealed during the evening.
All those in attendance were pleased to applaud and acknowledge the incredible efforts and achievement of collaborative teams and individuals across the UK, committed to delivering improved patient care and a culture of safety.
Hundreds of entries were received for the 2024 HSJ Patient Safety Awards, with 206 organisations, projects and individuals making it to the final shortlist, having gone through two rounds of rigorous judging, overseen by a panel of highly influential and respected figures within the healthcare community.
