The HIVE team at Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust were honoured as finalists for the RCP (Royal College of Physicians) Excellence Awards. Although the team didn’t win, the award went to a deserving team that built a new hospital focused on community needs over a 16 year project.
The team received the following project feedback from the judging panel:
- Excellent project and well presented.
- Very passionate about the work
- Excellent example of a secondary clinical service working in an integrated manner and across boundaries and targeting support at a group of individuals facing inequity in a holistic manner. No“one size fits all” model.
- Digital set-up to actively reach out.
- Aligns with current policy – long term plan, CORE 20+5. Use of social prescribers for wider determinants of health.
- Clear outcomes
- Excellent service with clear impact.
At the presentation of the finalist certificate, the judges noted the power of blended teams and how incorporating clinical and non-clinical staff has had a impact on the ability to deliver health care equitably.
The lung pathway navigator reaches out to all patients referred on the pathway and screens for and captures ‘Reasonable Adjustments’. This allows our support practitioners to deliver personalised intervention to help people attend their appointments, e.g., text message or telephone reminders, assistance booking or applying for travel passes, supporting benefits assessment and applying for blue badges, referring to social prescribes or adult social care, etc. These key enablers allow people to engage with health care and get the best possible experience and outcomes.
HIVE would not be possible without the expertise and compassion of a range of colleagues and system partners. The team was grateful to be able to have Angie Weeks (Homelessness Nurse Practitioner) and Jane Melling (Lung Pathway Navigator) attend the awards to recognise the vital role they play in the delivery of the project.
A phenomenal clinical service is only possible with the right team members supporting – administrative and managerial. The HIVE team are grateful for their support provided in upskilling and empowering some incredible colleagues.
Well done to all involved.