Posted on: 1 August 2024
CNWL’s Urgent Community Response (UCR) team in Camden has been shortlisted for a Nursing Times Award in the category of Sustainability in Nursing and Midwifery.
This is a new award category that promotes green issues and sustainable practices within the healthcare sector.
The nomination is a result of a quality improvement project led by Harry Simmonds, Deputy Lead Nurse at the Camden UCR service, who is currently seconded as a Darzi Fellow with Central London Community Healthcare (CLCH).
The project addressed the increase in unnecessary hospital admissions by UCR clinicians, which not only put pressure on systems and a strain on healthcare resources, but it also had impacts for patients.
They put in place an escalation phone line, where staff can communicate with senior nurses at the patient’s bedside. Decision making was quicker and easier, and helped to reduce variations within the team.
The project had significant outcomes, resulting in decreased resource use, financial savings and less social impact for patients, their families and carers:
- The average number of unnecessary admissions decreased from five per week to two per week
- The percentage of necessary hospital admissions (those resulting in a ward stay) increased from 60% to 82%, showing that hospital admission was the correct decision.
- In terms of sustainability, the project led to a reduction of 150kg of CO2 emissions per week.
The nomination also recognises the important contribution of the colleagues who worked on the project.
Harry said:
"I’m very proud of my team for undertaking a project that enhanced the quality of care for our patients while considering the economic, societal, and environmental impact”.
Winners will be announced at the upcoming ceremony in October. Find out more about the Nursing Times Awards here.