Welcome to August’s issue of the CNO Bulletin.
After three truly incredible weeks of celebration, engagement and creativity, we’re now waiting to find out about the next stage of our Pathway to Excellence® journey.
More than 1,700 people completed the Pathway to Excellence® survey and we passed the required 60% response rate with flying colours.
This month, I’m very excited to give you a behind-the-scenes look at our Pathway journey with very special contributions from our Ambassadors and Writing Group, while we’ll also take a closer look at World Breastfeeding Week which takes place from Monday, 1st August.
We are incredibly proud of the fantastic response to the survey phase of our Pathway to Excellence® journey.
As a Trust, we are extremely proud to confirm we surpassed the required 60% response rate with flying colours. In total, more than 1,700 NMC Registrants completed the survey.
This phenomenal response is all down to you. It’s thanks to our nurses, midwives and nursing associates who've engaged with our Pathway to Excellence® journey, as well as everyone else across the Trust who’ve supported our engagement with the survey to celebrate excellence at UHCW and showcase our professional pride.
The Pathway Survey has now closed, bringing a time for reflection and recognition in all that we have achieved. We will hear from the ANCC regarding our highly anticipated designation result in the coming six to eight weeks.
The closure of the Pathway to Excellence® survey has allowed us to reflect on the incredible work which has been happening across the organisation during this phase of our journey, and we’ve handed out awards to different wards or departments for their efforts.
Congratulations to all our award winners:
What an amazing journey, honour and privilege it has been, being an ambassador for the Pathway to Excellence Programme! I can honestly say enjoyable and so very rewarding.
I remember the initial launch of the programme in CSB lecture theatre and thinking, “what does this actually mean for me?” and now I realise exactly what it means; we as Nursing and Midwifery professionals strive for the very best in care for our patients’, providing extraordinary and excellent care. The working environment has a lot to do with this also, so ensuring staff are happy and included in decision making is integral to the process of reaching these high standards in care.
For me, being an ambassador, networking and meeting staff, sharing the key messages has been positive and uplifting; everyone is a part of the journey and anyone welcomed to have their say and share their good practices.
We are all a team with no exclusions and I feel this is keenly felt throughout the trust as we all get to know more about nursing and midwifery excellence and how it will benefit patients and staff alike.
The Pathway team themselves have been amazing, supportive and warm. Lisa, Vicky and Robyn enthusiastic to impart knowledge and key aspects of the Pathway Framework.
I feel the whole process has bought us all together regardless of job title and role and together we work towards effective change and excellence.
I’m so proud to have been given the opportunity to showcase how high our standards of care are, the excellent work we do has the chance to be recognised. Being a Pathway Ambassador has provided me with opportunities to make small positive changes to our unit, for example the newly decorated waiting room; suggestion boxes and the ”who’s who” board. These changes have benefited both patients, relatives and staff.
I also believe that the Pathway Survey and excellence indicators have improved the working environment for our staff, by tackling the issues raised. As a result, staff feel listened to. What I’ve most enjoyed about my role is how it has brought my colleagues together and boosted our morale, staff have also commented that they have enjoyed the fortnightly humorous Pathway Standards videos I’ve been creating for the department, I feel only positivity can come from our campaign for excellence.
As a new member of staff, I felt that this was an amazing opportunity to get to know more about the Trust I had just joined. I have met lots of new people and made good contacts and friends. It made me feel part of the organisation sooner than I would have done especially as I am off site.
As well as learning about Pathway to Excellence®, it has boosted my confidence and I feel included, accepted and valued as a nurse. I will be using my experience as part of my next revalidation.
My name is Lauren Lynch, and I am a Trainee Advanced Clinical Practitioner within the Surgical Department here at UHCW. I have been in my post since August 2021 and main role is within the Breast Care Team, where I carry out “Two Week Wait” clinics, but I also work on the Surgical Admissions Unit (SAU). I am currently completing my MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice at Coventry University.
I joined the Pathway Writing Group to support the development of the Pathway for Excellence® document, as I thought it would be a great professional development opportunity whilst also contributing to the trust’s journey to such a great achievement. The purpose of the writing group was to gather and write pieces of evidence for each of the Elements of Performance (EOPs) within the Pathway to Excellence® Framework. There are a total of 88 EOPs and each of these required a piece of evidence in the submission document to the American Nurses Credentialing Centre (ANCC) (in the form of narratives/examples from members of UHCW staff or written descriptions of our processes).
When I joined the group and worked with the team, at first it was quite daunting and seemed like an impossible task, however as the weeks went by we started to gather and collate such amazing examples of excellence, we could really see the document coming together and I felt proud of what we were achieving and thankful to be part of it. The group met fortnightly to provide opportunity for peer support and collaboration, which was a great support.
Before being a member of the writing group, I didn’t realise just how many opportunities were available to nursing and midwifery staff at UHCW NHS Trust (professional development, leadership opportunities and wellbeing support to name a few). In my role I feel very lucky that I am supported and encouraged to further my own knowledge and skills at university, and it was wonderful to see that there are so many opportunities for staff across the trust to do this.
Another thing I enjoyed was talking with members of the organisation I wouldn’t usually cross paths with and hearing about their experiences. One piece of evidence I was involved with writing was about how the trust supports and recognises members of the nursing and midwifery team who are volunteering outside of work and in our local communities. It was eye-opening to see so many of our staff volunteering in community activities and supporting our local populations. This again made me feel proud to be part of such a great organisation.
Being a member of the writing group was a privilege and not only did it broaden on my own knowledge about our trust, but it also helped me develop my own writing skills and this couldn’t have come at a better time for me! We had a celebration when the document was submitted and to hear that it came back with only two requests for additional information was fantastic. It was a great sense of achievement, and I am proud of the writing group for what the document we developed.
Laney, thank you so much for making the time to catch up with us and a huge congratulations on being shortlisted for a BBC CWR ‘Make a Difference’ Award! Can you tell us a little bit about your role and being shortlisted for the award?
Of course! I am the Substance and Alcohol Misuse Midwife here at UHCW NHS Trust. It’s a relatively new role, established in November 2021. Prior to that I worked in Complex Team, supporting women with poor mental health and mental health conditions, I focused on the challenges faced by pregnant women who are homeless and developing services to support them, as the midwife named for the Anchor Centre. As part of that role I recognised a specific caseload of women who were particularly vulnerable, women who experience inequity when accessing peri and antenatal health services. I knew there was a need for us to further develop our services to support women with substance and alcohol misuse so I highlighted this as part of our wider midwifery agenda and with our Director of Midwifery. We’ve developed a role and a service that I’m really proud of, it’s enabled us to expand our offer of care to these women.
I work really closely with lots of partnership organisations, such as Change Grow Live (CGL) and Kairos Coventry. I run opioid and alcohol clinics for pregnant women, providing them with bespoke support, advice and access to specialist services. I also do outreach work to target and support women who are vulnerable to sexual exploitation and sex work/street based prostitution. By supporting and enabling these women to identify pregnancies earlier it provides them with more choices, options and prompt access to care.
Developing policy to support this aspect of the wider public health agenda has been crucial and we’ve involved our patients in the service development, we want to break through the stigma these women experience when pregnant.
Wow, we can see why you were nominated for the award! How did you feel when you found out you’d been shortlisted?
I didn’t even know I’d been nominated! I was shocked and stuck for words. I honestly feel that I don’t need or deserve such recognition, I’m so proud to do, and believe in, what I do and that gives me the driving force to constantly strive to do more to support women.
That said, it did come at a good time, I support women who unfortunately are exposed to and experience significant trauma. I am well supported by midwifery leaders with restorative supervision which helps me to process traumatic disclosures, but being shortlisted for the award has also helped me take a step back and reflect on how far we’ve come already and the resource we’ve made available for vulnerable women. It’s important to reflect and recognise our achievements and the journey we’ve taken to get here.
What makes you proud to be a midwife at UHCW NHS Trust?
First and foremost, our organisation’s core values, I use them as my narrative. They’re not wordy or corporate and they fundamentally underpin the care I deliver.
I’m also incredible proud to be a part of such a supportive professional peer network. I feel proud of my colleagues and I know they feel proud of me. We’re changing the narrative about how we support women who experience inequality and inequity when accessing maternity services. I have really supportive leaders that I look up to, and that has enabled us to develop a culture where we can professionally and positively challenge each other.
And where would we find you outside of work? How do you recharge in your free time?
I volunteer with the East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS), where I’m a first responder for category 1 and 2 calls within a four mile radius of my home. This has really supported my wider professional development, I wasn’t a nurse before becoming a midwife, so training for a wider breadth of clinical situations is something I’ve taken into my role as a midwife.
I’m also founder and director of the registered charity Creating Equalz, we work to find meaningful solutions to race and gender and health inequalities. We provide training programmes to develop awareness and support for women who have or are at risk of experiencing female genital mutilation (FGM) and domestic violence.
And then to recharge, you’ll find me on my allotment – Plot 56! My husband and I have been working the plot for the last six years and it brings us a lot of joy!
I have worked as the Infant Feeding Specialist Nurse in the Paediatric department for 12 months, it was developed as a new role at UHCW NHS Trust. I typically work with babies aged between 2-5 days of age who have been referred in to us due to breast feeding difficulties. Understandably, the mothers I work with are worried about their newborn. My role is to educate and support mothers with various aspects of effective feeding and empower them to have the confidence in themselves to successfully breastfeed their baby. I mainly work on the Infants Ward (Ward 15), but I also see babies in the Children’s Emergency Department and in the Medical Day Unit for follow-up appointments.
I love my job and I feel extremely honoured to work with mothers who are at a very vulnerable point of new motherhood, supporting a positive outcome for them and overcoming the obstacles they have faced. I have won three Daisy Awards for the breast feeding support I provide and we have had wonderful feedback from parents which highlights how essential and meaningful breast feeding support is to women who are struggling.
From the 1st of August to the 7th of August we were celebrating World Breastfeeding Week at UHCW. This year’s theme was “Step up for breastfeeding” and is all about supporting mothers who wish to breastfeed. Breastfeeding has many health benefits for mother and baby, such as reducing the risk of diabetes or obesity for the child and the risk of breast cancer and osteoporosis for mother.
As the infant feeding specialist team (maternity, neonates and paediatrics) we have been working together to spread this message and create awareness of this important week.
On the 4th of August we held the Coventry Latch Event together with the Coventry Infant Feeding Team in the War Memorial Park where mothers and their children were invited to share their feeding journey with us. This event was about celebrating every mother’s feeding journey create a space where mums can share their story and exchange their experience with each other.
And as public breastfeeding is still not seen as normal and mums often are victims of offensive behaviour we wanted to set a sign that every mother has the right to feed her baby anywhere, anytime and any way she wants.
New mothers need a lot of support and we are hoping that we managed to reach more mums this week and spread ways of breastfeeding support and how to access it.
Nurses and midwives of all levels are invited to join the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for England’s Policy Network, offering colleagues the opportunity to engage with, inform, and influence a broad range of areas of healthcare policy.
It is a network for registered nurses and midwives, nursing associates, student nurses and midwives, no matter what role or where they work, and it allows members to work collaboratively, promoting research and evidence-based approached to drive change at national, regional and local levels.
To become a member of the Chief Nursing Officer for England’s Policy Network, please email england.nursingpolicyteam@nhs.net.
To find out more, visit our Policy Network Community on the FutureNHS platform.
With the recent hot weather it is lovely to be outside in the sunshine/shade – thanks to your UHCW Charity there are now some great outside spaces to enjoy in your break!
The Platinum Nature Reserve (near the new car park and creche) has recently been transformed with an all-weather path and new seating areas, with support from Severn Trent Water. Although additional work is still ongoing for further seating and viewing platforms, it is now open for staff, patients and visitors. The paths are accessible for wheelchairs and prams and run alongside the River Sowe . If you haven’t visited yet, pop in for a rest and enjoy this peaceful, calm haven. You can spot rare birds and butterflies amongst the apple trees and the river is also home to an otter!
Our new Wellbeing Walk is also now open, taking you on a one-mile route around the University Hospital Coventry site. You will find markers along the route directing you where to go – take a look at the map and give it a try on your lunchbreak! It’s a great way to get outside, be active and you can also stop off at the Platinum Nature Reserve en route!
The Rest and Recharge Garden (for staff only) which opened last year outside CSB, is in constant use with staff enjoying their lunches in the covered seating areas, benches and grass.
At St Cross, there is now a new outside seating space at Poplar Place Restaurant. Staff can use the area to enjoy their lunch outside, with new parasols installed for those who want some shade! There are also some beautiful new plant borders featuring a variety of herbs – some of these may even be used in the restaurant!
The Healthier Futures Action Fund has been made available to support innovation projects that contribute to the delivery of high-quality care, while reducing emissions and improving the sustainability of the NHS.
The fund is open to any individual or team within the NHS, for bids with a suggested range of between £3,000-£15,000. Applications will be open from 6 July – 19 August 2022. Winners will be announced at the end of September.
Small steps add up. Apply for the Healthier Futures Action Fund today, to kick-start your sustainable healthcare initiative for better health now and for future generations.
Our Cycle to Work scheme allows you to enjoy tax free bikes and accessories for your commute to work.
We have the most extensive range of bikes and accessories from leading cycling brands for you to choose from.
Simply visit www.vivup.co.uk to access the scheme.
The Cycle to Work scheme not only keeps you active, it helps save you money as it is a salary sacrifice initiative.
Savings can be made on cycles and or equipment from a selection of online products or participating bike shops.
We’re incredibly proud to be receiving the Freedom of the City of Coventry from @coventrycc this morning for our ongoing support and dedication to local communities during the Covid-19 pandemic. pic.twitter.com/L1ZBX9hMt8 — UHCW NHS Trust (@nhsuhcw) July 14, 2022
We’re incredibly proud to be receiving the Freedom of the City of Coventry from @coventrycc this morning for our ongoing support and dedication to local communities during the Covid-19 pandemic. pic.twitter.com/L1ZBX9hMt8
So proud Julie Atkins one of the senior nurses in OH team from UHCW is a Queen Baton Bearer pic.twitter.com/pqKtuuWs0V — Anne Hirons (@AnneHirons) July 22, 2022
So proud Julie Atkins one of the senior nurses in OH team from UHCW is a Queen Baton Bearer pic.twitter.com/pqKtuuWs0V
Celebrations on Ward 25 being awarded ‘Most in character survey station’ for P2E @UHCWP2E @emmajh25 @Sw14Wilson @JasGarchaRM @Gaynora @deanloop @ConsMw_Louise #TeamMidwifery #improvingstandards #proudmatron pic.twitter.com/DLQPbLkwkW — Sharon Gouldingay (@sharongouldinga) July 21, 2022
Celebrations on Ward 25 being awarded ‘Most in character survey station’ for P2E @UHCWP2E @emmajh25 @Sw14Wilson @JasGarchaRM @Gaynora @deanloop @ConsMw_Louise #TeamMidwifery #improvingstandards #proudmatron pic.twitter.com/DLQPbLkwkW
“Without her, I don't think I would be where I am today.” Congratulations to Julia from our Neonatal Community Outreach Team on winning our latest World Class Colleague award. You could nominate our next winner here https://t.co/GlmK0pHU4P pic.twitter.com/KP8t2dRkzI — UHCW NHS Trust (@nhsuhcw) July 17, 2022
“Without her, I don't think I would be where I am today.” Congratulations to Julia from our Neonatal Community Outreach Team on winning our latest World Class Colleague award. You could nominate our next winner here https://t.co/GlmK0pHU4P pic.twitter.com/KP8t2dRkzI
I just wanted to say a massive thank you to all the staff at the @nhsuhcw Hospital of St Cross (Rugby). My mother-in-law fell over and broke her wrist today, and we were in and out in a couple of hours. The staff were all brilliant, and she is recovering at home. — Dr Simon Sneddon (@SimonSneddon) June 1, 2022
I just wanted to say a massive thank you to all the staff at the @nhsuhcw Hospital of St Cross (Rugby). My mother-in-law fell over and broke her wrist today, and we were in and out in a couple of hours. The staff were all brilliant, and she is recovering at home.
Bravo Coventry UTC @nhsuhcw 2.5 hours from 111 call to leaving with a prescription for antibiotics for my Hattie. Superb, efficient pathway after discovering our GP was shut at 3.30!! #TeamEM #ThanksNHS #Communitypathways pic.twitter.com/RVzNZ45ULO — Hannah Gelder (@gelder_hannah) July 14, 2022
Bravo Coventry UTC @nhsuhcw 2.5 hours from 111 call to leaving with a prescription for antibiotics for my Hattie. Superb, efficient pathway after discovering our GP was shut at 3.30!! #TeamEM #ThanksNHS #Communitypathways pic.twitter.com/RVzNZ45ULO
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