New prizes recognise nurses
12 July 2007
Two teams of nurses from West Suffolk Hospital were today (12th July 2007) given funding to develop innovative ideas to help patients.
Nurses on F5 were given £400 to develop a plan to help patients better understand their surgery. The Tissue Viability Team were awarded £300 to fund an educational poster campaign to prevent pressure ulcers.
At the same ceremony, nurse Rachel Saunders received the Preceptorship Award for which she was given £200 in vouchers. Rachel, who graduated in January and works in orthopaedics, has successfully achieved a non-academic educational programme developing her staff nurse skills. Samantha Crouch, who was inspired to become a GUM nurse after working in the department as a healthcare support worker, was also commended for her transition to staff nurse and received a £20 Preceptee Award.
Pictured left to right: Leonora Descombes, Samantha Crouch, Rachel Saunders and Sarah Hunter with their certificates following today’s ceremony.
This is the first time the Innovation and Preceptorship Awards have been handed out at the Trust. The money comes from a number of charitable endowments that were left by past staff and patients to be given for excellence in nursing.
Director of nursing, Nichole Day, who presented the awards, said she was proud of the dedication of nurses.
"This is a chance for us to recognise and celebrate the achievements of our nurses and their commitment to patient care.
"The Preceptorship Award recognises our student nurses, who learn from our experienced staff. It acknowledges our student nurses who have recently graduated, become clinically skilled and who have written a reflective piece on what they have learned.
"The Innovation Award recognises those projects being developed within the Trust to improve patient care. Both of these Innovation Awards will improve information for patients and enhance their recovery. It also ensures that staff have the support, in the form of training and leaflets, to easily communicate those messages," said Ms Day.
Teams of nurses are invited to apply all year round to the Innovation Award scheme to support ideas to improve nursing practice.
The team on general surgical ward F5, led by Sarah Hunter, put in a bid for training and to develop good quality information to help patients who have elected to come to the hospital for day surgery to understand more about their stay.
Leonora Descombes, Tissue Viability Nurse, and Link Nurses within the Trust are developing posters, flyers and screen savers to reinforce clear messages about the management and prevention of pressure sores.