Publish date: 12 June 2024
The Trust is celebrating its shortlisting for two HSJ Patient Safety Awards. The HSJ Patient Safety Awards acknowledge the hard-working teams and individuals across the UK who are continually striving to deliver improved patient care.
Following a thorough judging process, West London NHS was included among the 206 organisations, projects, and individuals that made the final shortlist from 415 entries submitted for the 2024 awards programme.
Shortlisted for Mental Health Safety Improvement Award
We are proud to announce that the Trust has been shortlisted for the Mental Health Safety Improvement Award. Congratulations to Melville Jimmy Garber, who played a key role in the submission.
The project, titled "Highly Engaging Face-to-Face De-Escalation Techniques Training Programme for All Staff," includes an interactive booklet.
The HSJ described the entry as follows:
"The project was created by Melville Jimmy Garber, a mental health nurse with 20 years of experience in highly acute adolescent and adult specialist areas. This highly stimulating and engaging face-to-face programme is built on empathy and compassion. It features an easily accessible QR-coded downloadable interactive booklet for smartphones, designed for all staff to empower them with de-escalation skills. The training utilises bespoke award-winning scenario videos, non-contact challenging role play, teamwork, and relevant communication skills, and introduces concepts of spatial and situational awareness. Melville was supported by Harshil Gajjar, Learning and Development Manager, in the creation and design of the digital booklet, with further support through the BAME Leadership Programme. Melville is currently guided by senior colleagues Suzanne Morton and Ali Webster and Trust leads to disseminate this training within the Trust. He has already trained colleagues from the Practice Development Team (Train the Trainer) to ensure widespread implementation."
Shortlisted for Patient Involvement in Safety Award
We are also thrilled to share that the Trust has been shortlisted for the Patient Involvement in Safety Award.
The entry, titled "How Restraint Makes Us Feel," is a joint effort between the West London Forensic Service and Alex Watson, Head of Involvement, Co-Production, and Partnerships.
The HSJ described the entry as follows:
"How Restraint Makes Us Feel is a co-produced project initiated by the prevention and management of violence and aggression (PMVA)service user involvement group in West London Forensic Services. The group aimed to start conversations between staff and service users about handling difficult situations. Focus groups were conducted separately for staff and service users, asking the same six questions related to incidents involving restraints. The findings showed that staff, service users, and witnesses all experienced similar emotions."
Sioban Galvin, Senior specialist PMVA Tutor at West London Forensic Services said:
“This is such exciting news for the PMVA Service Users Involvement group just being shortlisted for this award has given us such a boost. We really hope this encourages more collaboration when managing risk.
“It’s well known within our sector that the HSJ awards programme is a high profile and hugely respected platform to showcase the work and achievements of the many healthcare professionals who enter, and we’re delighted to have been recognised on this prestigious shortlist for a 2024 Patient Safety Award. We hope our entry might also inspire other colleagues to consider submitting their projects, too!”
The awards ceremony will take place on Monday, 16 September, in Manchester. We wish our staff the best of luck, we’re proud of them.
The full list of finalists for the 2024 HSJ Patient Safety Awards is available on the HSJ website.