Star Team of the Month winners

Nominated by: Lyndsay Thompson, Operational Manager; who said:

“This teams was set up at pace last March 2020. The team has employed staff from all walks of life and disciplines in the fight against this pandemic. I initially volunteered to do bank hours on top of my normal job. Several weeks in I became the Operational Manager with a team of over 50 staff including admin. This team hasn’t had any recognition in the past year for putting themselves right at the forefront of tackling / supporting the fight with this pandemic. When most trust staff were adapting to working from home this team came in each in day having the greatest amount of exposure to Covid 19 to help with the fight against it.

The team have been amazing support and without them we couldn’t have provided such a service our trust, CCG & LA ( St Helens & Knowsley). We have been able to plan, implement, review and evaluate a courier service to support the wards and IPC via strong links with local Path Lab to ensure continuity, quality assurance and effective management of patient care during this difficult time. We have also implemented a Staff Track & Trace service to ensure all NWBH staff are supported and given correct advice whilst be able to minimising the spread of Covid 19 through contact tracing. These staff again from different backgrounds and having to shield have stepped up to the ask and delivered a service all virtually. Since we started we have had nearly 17500 emails into our inbox for tests queries and positive results. We have completed over 20000 test in the last year. This service is winding down now but would like everyone who has been part of this team to be recognised for going above and beyond.”

Nominated by: Nichola Orrell, Clinical Lead, Warrington Assessment & Home Treatment Team; who said:

“I would like to nominate Warrington Assessment & Home Treatment Team, for Team of the month November 2020. In these very challenging times, the whole Trust is going above and beyond to provide excellent care to our service users. However, Warrington Assessment & Home Treatment have consistently continued to provide an excellent service in the most challenging of circumstances. Whilst dealing with the fall out of the pandemic on the mental wellbeing of individuals, the teams have continued to be resilient, caring, compassionate and courageous. Team wellbeing has been a priority in these challenging times, with the team completing a wellbeing walk on the Trans Pennine Trail, and the introduction of a staff wellbeing box – which is always being replenished by staff for their colleagues, and keeping in touch with those team members who are shielding. They have continued to thrive and learn - technology has been embraced with the introduction of Attend Anywhere, and Clinical supervision is the ‘norm’ within the team, not the exception. The team have embraced a learning culture, and this has had a positive impact not only on their practice, but the experience of those who use our service. This month alone, the team have received a number of compliments for individuals and the team as a whole from service users, their carer’s and colleague’s alike. In a front line service, with the pressures and stresses that come with the service we provide, you have been amazing!

However, the team will soon be taking a new direction, and will soon be transformed into the new CRHT and Crisis response service. This has been a challenging time -  staff have been through a consultation period, and the level of uncertainty surrounding the teams future has been stressful for all. However, despite this the team have embraced and are looking forward to the challenges ahead, which we know will improve the experience of those who need us at often the most difficult times of their lives. This has been the focus of the team -  our service users and their families. As members of the team start new roles, in new teams, we would like to thank each and every member of staff who have continued to work tirelessly to improve, innovate and learn – despite the challenges which we have faced. We often tell you how proud we are, and it has been a pleasure to watch just how you have all pulled together and looked after each other over the past 3 years. It will be and end of an era for our team, however it is a challenge that we are looking forward to and will no doubt embrace and make a huge difference to the people who need us the most.”

Nominated by: Simon Barber, Chief Executive, Trust Board; who said:

“I would like to nominate the Covid-19 Vaccination Team, consisting of all the members of the Task & Finish Group, all the staff from all the different part of the Trust that have be re-deployed into the centre to take up a role and all the volunteers that have come forward and helped to set up the Centre to deliver the vaccine to our front line staff, friends and family and more latterly patients. 

The project has been led by Sue Hunt but the whole team have worked together, showing enthusiasm, care and compassion to do their very best for our staff and patients.  They have all done an amazing job.

Sue was asked to lead on this piece of work and set up the team within very short timescales and with the added frustration of Government guidance changing daily.  Sue initially set up a Task and Finish Group; they developed a plan, identified a team of vaccinators, administrators and volunteers, identified and set up the venue and set up a booking system.  No small feat to get a vaccination centre up and running within a matter of weeks.

Sue and the team have also coordinated the best way to take delivery of the Pfizer vaccine, which came with its numerous challenges, monitored bookings on a daily basis and identified when there would possibly be wastage and offer out last minute appointment slots to our staff.

The feedback from those attending for their vaccine has been amazing including:  how smooth the centre is run, how professional and friendly the team of vaccinators are, how good the reception staff are.  Most of all the recipients of the vaccine are overwhelming grateful to be able to have the opportunity to receive the vaccine and feel they are protected and that there could be and end in sight to this awful pandemic.

I would like to thank everyone involved in making this happen and for protecting our staff and patients the best way we can.”

Nominated by: Clare Mcauley, Childrens Community Nurse Manager, Childrens Community/School Nurses; who said:

“The Children's Community Nursing have worked throughout the pandemic on face to face visits ensuring the most vulnerable of children have been able to access a special educational facility and also to provide care and support for the most complex and end of life children in the community. They worked tirelessly throughout the first lockdown providing support to knowlsey CCG in ensuring children's personal assistants were all provided with PPE n order to keep the children and Personal assistants safe. They ensured every child was still seeing a nurse, even before the PPF3 masks were rolled out to community staff, by standing at outside and talking to the children and parents through windows. They educated these families in how to keep their children safe , when there was no evidence on the impact of covid on children with neuro disability. They also ensured that end of life care at home was not disrupted, and that children were supported to die at home with their families. they have worked very closely with blue bell park special educational facility to look at infection control and how best to bring vulnerable children back to school. Yes you may say they have done their job, thats what they are paid to do. But in fact this is untrue, they have worked above an beyond, with at most only three nurses due to sickness and shielding of other staff. These nurse have never once grumbled, it has always been lets shine and make NWBH proud of us. I glow with pride to say this is the team I manage, they were their uniforms with pride and each of them an angel to their families.”

Nominated by Ian McNulty, Quality Matron, St. Helens SLT who said:

Under truly sad circumstances, the St. Helens LLAMS team have continued to work tirelessly following the loss of their team legend Paul Gaythwaite from COVID-19. The pandemic has taken its toll on all boroughs and I acknowledge that multiple services throughout the trust have had their fair share of heart ache in 2020, be that personally or professionally. So why do I nominate St. Helens LLAMS for team of the month?

It never ceases to amaze me how proactive, passionate, accommodating and strong willed one team can be. Following the premature passing of Paul, and by way of tribute, team member Julie Murray created goody parcels for people wanting to donate to Paul’s nominated charities. This included Alzheimer’s, Teardrops, Salvation Army lunch for pensioners and Marie Curie tree. In total £754 was raised and donated.  In addition to their day jobs, the team have successfully decluttered and moved accommodation in the last month without detriment to patient care. A recent compliment received for the service from the granddaughter of a service user and fellow NWBH employee demonstrated their care and compassion during this time of courage. 

A quote from the compliment reads “Over recent months as a family we have been struggling with my grandfather’s worsening dementia. During an appointment with Michelle Algie, I found her to be exceptional in her advice guidance and support for our family. She provided the relevant information as soon as the appointment was over and I have been able to access services for my family that we didn’t know was available, including training. I found her approachable, caring, considerate and very easy to talk to, which as a family member is exactly what I needed”. The team are continually innovative and have recently created a new pathway of care delivery that incorporates nurse led diagnosis delivery. The instant advantage of this is reducing diagnosis waits from 12 to 6 weeks resulting in a speedier prescription of treatment. To finish, how do we ensure that group of individuals stand out as star team of the month? I suppose in essence this is by demonstrating how an above and beyond attitude takes place outside contractual day jobs. St. Helens LLAMS consistently perform and provide the goods when the going gets tough. This is obvious every month, but particularly evident this month.  Well done and best of luck

Nominated by: Pam Tinsley, Operational Manager; who said:

 “At a time when the nation is focused on the issue of holiday hunger and food provision for the most disadvantaged in society, the Healthy Knowsley Service has been supporting vulnerable families to a sustainable solution focusing on increased food resilience. Having reviewed a research paper on the indirect consequences of COVID-19 on health inequalities, the team focused on the emerging needs of the Knowsley population recognising that there were a number of families who were finding it difficult to provide healthy meals on a restricted budget. The team were already acutely aware of the issue of food poverty within the community having supported an increasing number of clients to access food provision through food banks and social supermarkets.

 The team took a solution focused approach and devised a new initiative to support families to adopt and sustain a healthier diet. The team worked collaboratively with partner agencies to identify some of the families in the Borough whose vulnerability impacted food choices and invited these families to join a video call based cooking programme. A needs assessment was completed by Wellbeing Coaches with each family starting the programme identifying levels of cooking skills and confidence, favourite meals and family members keen to participate. This shaped the sessions for each family with recipes and health messages tailored to their individual circumstances and therefore able to account for availability of equipment, food budget etc.

 All members of the family were invited to join the cooking session creating a whole family, fun activity. Families prepared their evening meal with meals included foods like pasta carbonara and garlic bread; chicken nuggets and wedges and Spaghetti Bolognese. Wellbeing Coaches have taken the suggestions from the families and devised healthy recipes on a budget to create a sustainable approach to improving diet for each family. The sessions received an excellent response from families. One family participating in the session included a mum and 3 children aged 5-11, one of whom had autism. At the end of the sessions mum said how much they had looked forward to it all week. The children reported how much they enjoyed the opportunity to chop the food and be involved in preparing meals. As well as enjoying the activity the family reported that they had really enjoyed the meals they had made together.”

Nominated by: Andrea Tweddell, Assistant Director Estate & FAcilities, Estates & Facilities; who said:

 “I would like to nominate our Estates & Facilities Heroes for a number of reasons:

• They are a small team covering the whole of the Trust who work tirelessly to ensure our buildings are clean, safe and a secure environment for our service users and staff. 
• The team responded to the COVID -19 pandemic with enthusiasm and commitment to ensure the on-going excellent service and advice they already provide during normal circumstances.
• The team were key in the installation of the testing COVID-19 assessments pods throughout the Knowsley Borough at the Walk In Centres working tirelessly to ensure these were up and running as soon as possible. 
• During the distribution of PPE in the early days of Covid, on numerous occasions the team were called out in the middle of the night to receive urgent PPE deliveries and secure on site as the national allocation often turned up at strange times. 
• On occasion staff were also known to go to other sites during the early hours to intercept deliveries wrongly delivered to our Acute colleagues.
• The senior management team actively sought PPE from local suppliers in their own time when face visors and masks where in short supply within the Trust. This ensured that NWBH staff did not go without the correct PPE they needed to carry out their jobs. 
• The domestic and portering team, despite their personal anxiety and concern,  embraced the challenge of Covid across the Trust working hard to improve and maintain cleanliness levels and logistics services
• The team took on more responsibility during this period also by monitoring and distributing PPE throughout the Trust to the Hubs and also maintaining and checking sufficient oxygen levels were kept at all in-patient sites.
• Despite staff absences during the pandemic due to COVID-19 vulnerable staff self-isolating the team have pulled together and adapted to working at home whilst still providing a high quality responsive service.
• Finally, despite being short-staffed, working remotely and dealing with a high number of requests, the team are still managing to process 'business as usual' in a timely and helpful manner

I know the boost this would give this team during such a challenging time would be absolutely amazing. Without our team and our expertise during this pandemic, the services and wards would not be in the position they are today - keeping staff and patients safe and also providing constant improvements to the environment by continually maintaining standards that we are used to in these unprecedented times.”

Nominated by: Nicola Ross, Clinical Team Manager, Wigan-Urgent Response-Parsonage Unit; who said:

"Where do I start? At the start of the pandemic Parsonage Team volunteered to become the Enhanced Physical Health Unit for COVID+ patients in Wigan. This in turn meant changing our ward environment and moving over to Golborne Unit. During these uncertain times of what lay ahead of us all the staff remained dedicated and focused, despite feelings of uncertainty and anxiety- The team never let these emotions get in the way of providing the best possible care. The Deputy Ward Managers quickly adapted paperwork to support our new ward and local skype training was set up such as IV training and end of life care provided by the hospice, to attempt to provide us with the skills that we may need. I have never worked in team as dedicated and as proactive as our 'Parsonage Ward staff'. Despite nursing COVID+ patients that were very poorly, both functional and Organic patients, we ensured they received patient centred care. 

Staff bought a ward mobile so that they could contact their relatives for those that couldn't skype through our ward iPad. I am so proud to be leading such a dedicated team to providing excellent care to the patients and their relatives. Despite the dry cracked hands and face from all of the PPE required, staff continued to come in with a smile on their face. We laughed, we cried, and we succeeded in fulfilling what we had set out to do- that was to work as a team and ensure excellent patient centred care was being delivered. As the patients got better and was swabbed Negative for COVID, staff felt liberated. I couldn't be prouder of every single staff member on Parsonage Unit for what they have done, and I hope they recognise the admiration I `as part of the leadership team. The feedback from the families of the patients, were all positive and motivating, arranging visits at the window to support their recovery. Some of the staff contracted COVID including myself, but this did not stop us returning back to work at the soonest possibility to continue where we left off. A staff member had to postpone their wedding and worked a 14-hour shift on this date. 

I was without my children for 10 and a half weeks so that I could ensure they were safe, and I could commit fully to ensuring service delivery. We had shielders completing supervision over telephone to support the wellbeing of staff and one completing a presentation to the trust board of our Journey on the ward, as well as ward psychologist completing wellbeing sessions to support staff morale. As we approach the winter months, and the potential of a second wave I know that staff will remain dedicated and focused.

As part of the leadership team I just want to express my greatest gratitude and thank you for EVERYTHING team Parsonage have achieved.

Thank you Team Parsonage!!!

T-ogether

E-veryone

A-chieves

M-more

Nominated by: Cath Borrows, Matron, Knowsley Leadership TeamKnowlsey Leadership Team; who said:

"In March 2020, Coniston Ward accepted a particularly challenging young service user, who was transferred from CAMHS directly to Coniston Ward. This young service user was a prolific self-harm risk and for months, the staff were challenged to keep this service user safe, reduce and treat the service user daily self-harm whilst trying to build up a therapeutic relationship with a young service user who had never been admitted to an adult ward before and was scared. The ward staff did a tremendous job in caring for this young service user, providing support, guidance and interventions in very challenging circumstances. Eventually service user incidents of self-harm decreased and ceased all together for the last month of service users time on the ward.

The staff have supported this young service user to access benefits, to acquire a property (serviced user was homeless on admission), to access follow up support, treatment and education and today, staff from Coniston Ward accompanied service user to his new property. Every member of the ward staff has been involved in the care of the service user and prior to discharge yesterday, when speaking to this young service user stated "this ward saved my life, the staff have been brilliant and helped me in more ways than they will ever know, I now have hope and a future to look forward to thanks to the staff on Coniston Ward, when I came here I was scared, alone and had no future and I can't thank everyone enough for what they have done, they accepted me when no body else did and showed me respect and care". These words speak volumes about Coniston Staff care and treatment of a particularly vulnerable young service user, well done to all of the Team."

Nominated by: Berni Fay-Dunkley, Assistant Director: Nursing, AHP's & Professional Standards, Nursing & Governance and Ceri Davies, IPC Nurse Specialist, Infection Prevention & Control Team; who said:

By Berni Fay-Dunkley:

"I would like to nominate our IPC Heroes for a number of reasons. They are a small team covering the whole of the Trust and the Local Authority in Knowsley who work tirelessly to protect our patients, staff right across the Trust from wards, housekeeping, estates, procurement, wasted, care homes and everything in between...Like most, if not all of our teams it can often go unnoticed the importance of and the added value a team such as this one provides until something quite serious occurs. The team responded to the COVID -19 pandemic as soon as this was known, providing information to ensure our service areas were updated with the latest advice, were part of the initial set up of the testing service, provided the training on PPE, FIT mask training. This has been whilst responding to outer out breaks. They have continued to provide advice, support, training, respond to an astronomical amount of calls on a daily basis, dealing with the public, as well as our internal service areas and external partners seeking answers that they didn't always have, because not even our national experts had them. They have dealt with frightened, distressed and angry calls throughout and have even had team members affected by the virus. Even when the worst of the pandemic is over, it won't be for this team, the surveillance programme will remain heightened. I firmly believe everyone across the Trust needs recognition, however I know the boost this would give this team during such a challenging time would be fabulous!"

By Ceri Davies:

"The team have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic, often working late evenings, early mornings and weekends, to provide the specialist service to all staff and patients within NWBH. Despite sickness in the tea (probably COVID) the team have pulled together and adapted to working at home whilst still providing a gold level service. The team were instrumental in the setting up and training of the swabbing team and FIT tested and trained over 100 NWBH  staff in the very early days of the pandemic. Without our team and our expertise during this pandemic, the services and wards would not be in the position they are today - keeping the staff and patients safe and helping to prevent the spread of infection and therefore saving lives!"

Nominated by: Joanne Adair, Clinical Research & Governance Lead, Clinical Research; who said:

"I would like to nominate the Communications Team as star team of the month, for their ongoing work in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic response. Firstly, with regard to the communications around COVID-19. The messages that are being communicated to staff from Trust board are regular, timely and clear in relation to the priorities placed on staff and patient safety.  This is a great source of reassurance to staff who is continuing to work under difficult circumstances. It is apparent that a lot of time and effort has been put into getting these communications right. As well as this, the information on the Trust website is being updated regularly and the social media feeds also contain lots of useful information for staff and service users who may be struggling as a result of the current situation.

Secondly, another clear message that is coming from the communications we received is the way that the Trust is recognising the contributions of all staff. The certificates for children, NWBHeroes campaign and the regular Skype Q&A meetings with board members are ensuring that staff continues to feel connected to the organisation, and I know that the communications team have put in a lot of work in developing and facilitating these.

 Finally, despite being short-staffed, working remotely and dealing with a high number of COVID communications, the team are still managing to process 'business as usual' requests in a timely and helpful manner. We have contacted them with numerous requests and they have been responsive and accommodating every time. I know that there are many deserving clinical services across the organisation, but I also feel that there are many vital corporate services that have done some outstanding work to help the organisation deal with this pandemic, and the Communications Team are definitely one of them."

Nominated by: Cath Borrows, Matron; Sheila Lamb, Senior Nurse Practitioner and Lisa Murray, Discharge Coordinator from Rydal Ward, who said:

By Cath Borrows: "The first patient on Rydal Ward tested positive for COVID 19, within 3 days all patients had tested positive on the ward. The staff on Rydal ward provided excellent care to every patient on the ward. Staff from the ward began to become ill with 90% testing positive, during this time colleagues from community services, the education centre and management team were re-deployed to help on the ward. Staff have been outstanding throughout this very challenging time, the compassionate care provided to the patients has been gold standard and has led to recovery/recovering of patients, families of our patients have been kept in touch with relatives via Skype also. To celebrate staff and patients recovery from COVID 19 we held a garden party on 22 April 2020. Rydal Ward and all of the staff that have supported the ward during the last six weeks are a credit to our Organisation, their commitment both to the patients their families and each other has been fantastic. Well done everyone, we are so very proud of you all."

By Sheila Lamb: "Rydal Unit is a dementia ward, which has been through a very difficult period over the past month due to all patients being positive for COVID 19, and the majority of the ward staff also testing positive with this virus. The remaining staff on the ward have worked with the support of regular banking staff on very small numbers, and continued to give the patients the care that they needed and deserved. During this difficult time staff morale has been good and they have supported each other through the most frightening few weeks. Sadly one of the patients passed away due to this virus, however the other patients have all now recovered, due to the high standard of care given. I think this team needs to be recognised for the tireless work they do has their normal day job, but extra praise is needed for giving 100% when staff levels were very poor and procedures were constantly changing daily. I myself have been proud to be part of this team at this time, has a redeployed member of the team."

By Lisa Murray: "I would like to put Rydal team forward for Star Team of the month. The staffs on here are the most amazing team; they are kind, caring, loving, and empathetic, a listening ear and most of all dedicated to ensure excellent patient care is delivered. The staff offer, hope, love and affection to the most vulnerable client group, with a smile. During time of COVID 19 staffs from all other areas have come to kindly help in a time of need. Each and every one of these staff have said what amazing people the staff here are and they have been so kind welcoming them as they have, and are proud of the care they see delivered day in and day out on Rydal Ward."

Nominated by: Sylvia Campbell, Domestic Supervisor, Estates, who said:

"The team on Kingsley Ward have been working under extreme pressure with the currant COVID-19 situation. I have seen first-hand the dedication and care all the staffs on this ward have given to the service users and each other. The nurses, nursing assistants, domestics and agency staff. I know the whole trust is under pressure and each ward is dealing with this unprecedented situation. I genuinely believe they deserve team of the month because it was their ward who had to deal with the situation first. When I have worked on the ward to watch this team in action is amazing and I think they are all truly heroes."

Nominated by Julie Critchley, Head Of Quality, St Helens Leadership Team who said:

"The St Helens Assessment and Home Treatment Team has absolutely done a massive turn around over the last 6 months. The team experienced a constant high demand for the service resulting in demand outstripping capacity, as a result this lead to a very challenging environment for staff to work in.

This team experienced a high staff vacancy rate which impacted on the service delivery and staff morale. The team also had a number of changes in the Management which lead to feelings of uncertainty and a lack of direction. Overwhelming high patient caseloads resulted in a fire fighting approach and staff burn out. The team were unable to achieve the KPI targets and ultimately this impacted on patient care and patient safety. Staff felt they had no time to attend training or attend supervision sessions. This was exactly the time supervision was needed. The team were placed on the risk register and action plans were implemented.

Over the last 6 months the team has transformed and we are so proud to of the achievements over such a short period of time. The team has a new Management Team in place who listened to staff regarding the issues and how things could be addressed collaboratively. The team worked hard finding solutions together introducing new systems and approaches. The environment and the culture within the team is now a positive and proactive one were the team feel supported and listened to. Vacancies are now filled, staff morale has improved and it's now an attractive place to work. The team are more enthusiastic and motivated to deal with the challenges and demands of the service. This has resulted in the team piloting the new Assessment Team Model for the Trust.

The feedback from the Project Managers is that the team have been passionate and committed to implement the new model. Staff now attend Training and engage in regular Managerial & Clinical Supervision.

The Trust KPI's have vastly improved which demonstrates an improvement in patient care. The team have introduced an internal monthly acknowledgement to nominated staff for their positive attitude boosting morale. The team are now managing patient flow much more effectively, being more responsive to the needs of the patients.

Due to the proactive culture the team have been successful in reducing patient's admission to hospital and improving community resilience by now providing an effective Assessment and HTT service. Thankyou from the Leadership Team."

Nominated by Jenny Hughes-Doyle, Named Nurse, Looked After Children, and Enhanced Team, who said:

"The Enhanced 5-19 Children's Team offer an Enhanced School Health Service to children and young people who attend the Pupil Referral Units (excluded from mainstream school) in Sefton, children and young people who are being home educated  and for an interim period currently young people who are referred to the Youth Offending Team. All children being supported by the Enhanced Service have endured varying degrees of Adverse Childhood Experiences, which evidence based research highlights can lead to poor physical and emotional wellbeing. Having health support that is experienced, skilful, compassionate and caring is of the upmost importance to support healing and positive change.

The Enhanced Team consists of Jane Perry Team Manager, Sue Halton; Jane Ditchfield enhanced Nurses and Bev Hird Enhanced. Administrator. Whilst they are a small team, I believe as the Enhanced Service Manager they are courageous, empowered, passionate and dedicated individuals whom as a cohesive team are mighty in their service impact. To give share insight into their engagement with children and families I have included a number of short examples that highlight what a fantastic difference they make to children and families lives. Furthermore that they exude trust values and behaviours which are infectious and promote positivity within the workforce.

Over the past fifteen years Jane Perry has worked with partners from the local church, local authority, education and 0-19 staff more recently to support vulnerable families within Sefton. During December 2019 this year the campaign once again began. Jane with support from the Enhanced team coordinated the request and donations of food, toys, clothes and accessories to support those families known to their service during the Christmas period. For families and children suffering with physical and emotional health problems, Christmas can increase pressures and this in turn can often result in deterioration in their health further. This can be further impacted by housing, financial and social pressures.

The pictures above provide a limited view of the vast amount of donations received that allowed a total of seventeen families to receive a huge hamper full of gifts that would make their Christmas more joyful. The Team delivered the hampers on Christmas Eve as they do each year and Jane and the Team have shared that each family was truly thankful for the support given.

Within the Pupil Referral Units (PRU) where children attend when excluded from mainstream school. Jane, Sue and Jane are continuously striving for gold standard care and continuous service improvement. They have identified those children within the PRU have a greater need for an enhanced sexual health service following a number of teenage pregnancies. Therefore they have developed a three session sexual health programme that not only provides theory and practical advice they are taking the children to visit the local sexual health to endeavour to reduce barriers to accessing services.

The Enhanced Team were also requested to contribute to an intensive six week programme that looked at building resilience in children alongside excluded from mainstream education, whilst helping to  develop strategies to manage emotional regulation. The team developed an emotional wellbeing session that allowed the child to develop their own ground rules with support. They were asked to choose from a selection of adjectives which one they felt applied to them – all adjectives were positive and the purpose of the activity was to raise self-esteem and to have them acknowledge they had positive attributes. They were encouraged to explore what is required for a healthy lifestyle such as a balanced diet, positive sleep hygiene, exercise and friendships. Within this discussion there was time for reflection and motivational interviewing skills were incorporated to promote and empower change.  The Teenage brain development alongside impact on behaviour, mood and actions were also shared to increase knowledge. This also allowed children to understand that some teenage behaviour is all part of healthy and normal development.

The children were talked through a number of distraction techniques by the team that they could employ if they were feeling stressed or angry such as finger breathing, box breathing, describing what they see around them and mindfulness. As a fun way of encouraging them to participate, they children were given a piece of chocolate and asked to let it melt in their mouths and were encouraged to think about how it felt as it dissolved. This activity encouraged all children to participate and afterwards it was explained that they can utilise the same technique with anything to help distract, before doing things that may not be deemed appropriate or positive. At the end of the sessions each pupil was given a personalised certificate for participating. This for many children attending a PRU is often one of the first times they have received  a certificate as often they have been reprimanded for behaviour as opposed to praised. It was shared that children had felt proud to receive a certificate and eager to share it at home.

Often a higher proportion of children who have experienced early childhood trauma and adversity struggle with emotional regulation, this may be due higher levels of cortisol release. Therefore the Enhanced Team have supported children to increase their emotional regulation, improve their mental health which all contributes to improved long term future outcomes. 

Not only are the Enhanced team committed to supporting children and families they are also supportive of their colleagues. Within Sefton the Looked after Children & Youth Offending Team have experienced unprecedented resource challenges. During this period the Enhanced service have embraced a request to support their wider team and have developed a number of improvements to the service to enhance the care provided for children open to the Youth Offending Service in Sefton.

The improvements made have been the introduction of a drop in within the Sefton locality to support completion of health assessments, sexual health support alongside advice pertaining to all physical and emotional health. The team have also collaborated successfully with partners to ensure that Risk & Vulnerability meetings are attended by NWBH and this has been praised as a positive collaboration between partners to support vulnerable children during the recent Emotional Wellbeing Joint Targeted area Inspection. The team's dedication, support and passion to help children, families and colleagues are valued fully within the Sefton borough. However I would l would like the Enhanced Service to receive the recognition throughout the trust as they truly deserve this."

Nominated by Megan Woodcock, who said:

"Iris Ward have recently experienced a challenging time, we have cared for a number of complex, challenging and high risk service users. Between the months of July to October, Iris Ward experienced almost three times more self-harm incidents than any other acute ward in the Trust, approximately 120 of these incidents being ligatures. Despite these difficult times, the team pulled together to give everything they had to support each other, service users, families and carers. During this time, there was only one episode of work related sickness with people continuing to turn up day in day out despite the distressing incidents and difficult circumstances.

Staff members went above and beyond staying late and picking up extra shifts on the nurse bank to offer support. The team maintained high levels of compliance with training remaining above trust targets. During this time the ward was able to maintain the lowest rates of seclusion usage and low number restraints. Following this period, the team have recently had ZERO incidents of self-harm in December and have provided positive outcomes for service users within their care."