Celebrating good practice

This year the RCN Nursing Awards 2021 was live-streamed from RCN HQ in London on Tuesday 12 October 2021.

The award winners showcased the diversity of nursing and recognising the commitment, compassion, and clinical excellence of the entire nursing team.

Learning Disability Nursing

Winner

Rebecca Crossley - James Paget Hospital University Hospital

Rebecca Crossley’s COVID-19 vaccine clinic for people with learning disabilities and autism or severe and enduring mental health conditions has a 99.9% success rate. The learning disability and autism liaison nurse organised engagement events with people who would be using the service to ensure she got it right first time and that the people she vaccinated came back for their second dose. She found a room that could be adapted for sensory needs and a prescriber for those who required individual patient assessment. At time of entry to the RCN Nurse Awards, the service had vaccinated 242 people, some with severe needle phobias who previously had never had a vaccination. Only one person had been unable to receive the vaccine.

Finalists

Jane Nickels - MacIntyre

Since embarking on her learning disabilities Admiral Nurse role in May 2020, Jane Nickels has been supporting the virtual MacIntyre Memory Cafés in England and Wales. She provides bespoke training and education to families, wider circles of support and professionals caring for people with learning disabilities, working to ensure there is a timely diagnosis. She ensures the person’s environment is tailored to meet their individual needs and has been raising awareness by talking at conferences. Two of her webinars were quickly filled with 500 participants. There has been a reduction in the use of medication and increased confidence among teams to support someone in their own home at the end of life.

Michelle Evans - Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust

Learning disability lead nurse Michelle Evans started in post as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold but this did not stop her transforming the trust’s services and culture to improve the care of people with learning disabilities. The programme was scoped with work streams and a full-day workshop attended by 100 colleagues, patients, family members, carers and national leaders. This resulted in the streamlining of appointments, implementation of a patient passport and bespoke communication aids, reasonable adjustments for people with additional needs, provision of accessible information and easy-read leaflets, and staff education and training. Feedback from families and staff has been increasingly positive.  

Sandra Morton-Nance - Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust

By developing a virtual clinic to coordinate and manage ongoing care and support for people with intellectual disability and two or more long-term conditions, hospital liaison nurse specialist in learning disability Sandra Morton-Nance has improved outcomes and safety. Feedback from individuals, care providers and professionals has been positive and there has been improved engagement from people who had a previously high incidence of missed appointments. People can access the care they needed without unnecessary distress or disruption. The hospital liaison nurse has been able to advocate on behalf of the patient, sharing their wishes and offering advice and assistance to clinicians to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions and investigations.

Acute liaison learning disability and autistic spectrum condition team - Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust

The learning disability and autistic spectrum condition (ASC) team established at Alder Hey offers bespoke care for children and young people with a learning disability or ASC across the site. Identification of these children and young people by a special record indicator enables the team to meet families and carers to discuss access to care, concerns and reasonable adjustments. Training delivered across the site has also supported awareness and understanding of access issues and is part of inductions. Positive behaviour support is part of mandatory conflict resolution training. Feedback from families, parent forums and, most importantly, the children and young people has been very positive. 

Other categories included:

Advanced Nursing Practice

Winner: Heidi Emery - South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

The judges have shortlisted this specialist in learning disabilities and autism for her excellent use of advanced practice and demonstrable improvements for patient outcomes in a complex, medical-led area. Mental health and learning disability placement coordinator Heidi Emery ensures care is provided in the least restrictive environment and supports people through pathways from hospital to the community, despite continued COVID-19 restrictions. In recent years, 26 people have been discharged into the community, which has given them their lives back. Ms Emery has become the first non-medical approved clinician at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and is a member of its mental health law action group, providing a nursing perspective at the heart of this aspect of patient care.

Finalists: Community and GP nursing

Paula Spooner and Fiona Sharp - South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group

Finalist - Student Nurse

Anna Mulvihill - University of the West of England

Finalists: Patients Choice

Jodie Heath - North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust

Finalist: Team of the year

#KeepHoLDNon team