12 October 2021
On Monday 20th September at the 2021 HSJ Patient Safety Awards, a number of team from the Southern Trust were crowned winners and an impressive seven Southern Trust projects in total were shortlisted from hundreds of entries. The HSJ awards took place during the two-day Patient Safety Congress and recognise outstanding contribution to healthcare and drive improvements in culture and quality across the NHS by celebrating the teams putting safety first.
In a period of unprecedented times, when staff morale has been widely impacted due to the stressful and challenging nature of the pandemic, the achievements of the teams across Southern Trust is a very welcomed celebration. This celebration reminded colleagues of their strength, resilience and capability to create positive change for everyone. Congratulating all the staff involved, Executive Director of Nursing, Midwifery and AHPs for the Southern Trust, Heather Trouton commented: “Following one of the toughest years in health and social care, it is a huge testament to our staff for showing such commitment to continually improving their services despite the challenges they have faced. Through collaboration, innovation and forward thinking, these projects are having a really positive impact on quality, safety and overall patient outcomes and experience.”
The Acute Care at Home team was named worthy winners in the ‘Deteriorating Patients and Rapid Response Initiative of the Year’ and the Dysphagia Support Team deservedly won the Patient Safety Education and Training Award. The Trust also received Highly Commended in another two categories – The Acute Care at Home team for ‘Improving Care for Older People Initiative of the Year’, for their response to the COVID-19 pandemic and The Trust’s Day Centre Vaccination Programme was highly commended in the ‘Learning Disabilities Initiative of the Year’ category.
Paying tribute to all the staff involved, Shane Devlin, Chief Executive, said: “To have two teams crowned winners, two highly commended and another four teams as finalists is testament to our staff for showing such commitment to continually improving their services despite the challenges they have faced throughout one of the toughest years in health and social care.
“These awards recognise the outstanding contribution to healthcare that our frontline colleagues have made, pushing the boundaries of patient safety and driving cultural change to minimise risk, enhance quality of care and ultimately save lives.”
HSCQI would like to congratulate Southern Trust for their outstanding achievement at the HSJ Awards.
With recognition of the 3 other Trust shortlisted projects:
- Tele-EDS – Dysphagia Pilot Project – Best use of Technology for Patient Safety Award
- The Acute Care at Home Team – Patient Safety Team of the Year
- Seven Shades of Culture Change – Mental Health Team of the Year
The Southern Trust have also played an imperative role in the HSC ‘Virtual Visiting’ initiative which they rolled out in July and have now recently celebrated the success of the service with the 5000th call. To read more on the Trust’s ‘Virtual Visiting’ success, please visit: 5000 virtual hospital visits! | Southern Health & Social Care Trust (hscni.net)