Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust is delighted that Dr Su Ann Tee and our Secondary Prevention Service have won this year’s Bright Ideas in Health Awards in the Outstanding NHS Industry Collaboration category.
The prestigious awards celebrate the achievements of individuals and teams working within the NHS, industry, and academia, who have risen to the challenge of improving services provided to patients, either through technical innovation or through better service delivery.
The Outstanding NHS Industry Collaboration Award celebrates the collaborative efforts between the NHS and industry that tackle critical needs and positively affect patient care. The Gateshead Secondary Prevention Service is a working project between Gateshead Health and Novartis Pharmaceuticals. The team is made up of consultants from endocrinology, cardiology, nephrology, and stroke medicine, with the specialist pharmacist, Jonathan Fenwick playing an important role in planning, data collection, and care delivery.
The project provided personalised care for patients to help identify and review risk factors contributing to their condition, shortly after an adverse event. It focused on patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (where your arteries become narrowed, making it difficult for blood to flow through them), those who have had a stroke or a transient ischemic attack (a brief disruption in blood flow to the brain that causes stroke-like symptoms), and people with peripheral vascular disease (blocked blood vessels). The work supports people in achieving cholesterol, diabetes, and blood pressure targets and stopping smoking using approved medical therapies. Patient feedback has been positive, and people feel more listened to and empowered to understand their condition and medications to keep them healthy.
Dr Su Ann Tee comments on the award:
I feel extremely privileged to have led a team of dedicated and compassionate colleagues in transforming this initiative from an idea into reality, over the last 18 months. This service would not have been possible without collaborative funding from industry partners at Novartis Pharmaceuticals to whom I would also like to express sincere thanks. We hope for ongoing support from the Trust and Intergrated Care Board (ICB) to enable us to continue improving cardiovascular prevention for people in Gateshead in the months to come.
I would like to acknowledge the following with heartfelt thanks: Jonathan Fenwick – Senior Clinical Pharmacist, Gateshead Health NHSFT, Dr Hannah Sinclair – Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Gateshead Health NHSFT/Newcastle Hospitals NHSFT, Dr Louise Southern – Consultant in Stroke Medicine, Gateshead Health NHSFT, Dr Ian Logan – Consultant Nephrologist, Newcastle Hospitals NHSFT, Mr Craig Nesbitt – Consultant Vascular Surgeon, Newcastle Hospitals NHSFT Cardiology, Stroke and Vascular Surgery Teams, Gateshead Health NHSFT, Mark Thomas, Chief Pharmacist, Gateshead Health NHSFT, Lorna Blyth, Solutions Implementations Manager, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Nikki Holdsworth, Programme Manager, Health Innovation North East North Cumbria, Gateshead Health Leadership Group and Dr Peter Carey and members of the North East Lipid Specialist Advisory Group.
Well done to Dr. Noel Renton and his team from our Emergency Department, who were nominated in the Towards Net Zero category. Noel and his team (Andrea Swingler, Sarah Browbank, and Natalie Cookson) introduced a new medication to the emergency department for calming patients down before a procedure. It has had several benefits including reducing our CO2 emissions, reduced nursing hours for sedation, reduced patient stay in the department, a reduction in the use of resuscitation space, training opportunities for staff, and improved pain relief for patients.
Congratulations and thank you to Dr Su Ann Tee and the Secondary Prevention team and Dr Noel Renton and his team for all your hard work to improve patient care at Gateshead Health.