Hospital Trust delivers ‘outstanding’ practice in children and young people services
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) has been praised for a number of “outstanding” practices within its Children and Young People services.
SaTH has implemented a number of positive initiatives to better support and care for children and young people, and their families, receiving care and treatment at both the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) and the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford.
Initiatives include the use of new sepsis escalation stickers, which are situated within the patients’ records, and identify patients that require escalation due to their deteriorating health.
The team has also implemented an eating disorder care bundle which is person-centred to each individual young person.
The service has also spent time with children and young people to make coping tool kits. These are boxes that the young person would make, and they could place anything thing in there to help them deal with any stress or anxieties they may have.
The Children’s Ward at Princess Royal Hospital has a special visitor every Wednesday morning – Lottie the dog. The ‘Pets as Therapy’ cockapoo pops along with her owner Rosalie Chenneour and the children, staff, parents and carers are always thrilled to see her.
Kerry Davies, a Youth Worker, nominated Lottie for a BBC Make a Difference Award. She said: “Lottie’s visits are the highlight of the week. It is just fantastic to see the children’s faces – there are plenty of smiles when she is around. Many children can be quite apprehensive when they are in hospital and Lottie helps put them at ease.”
Julie Plant, Divisional Director of Nursing for Children and Young People at SaTH, said: “We have worked so hard to introduce several new initiatives to better support and care for children and young people, and their families, receiving care and treatment at our hospitals. The new initiatives such as the sepsis escalation stickers and term time teacher have been fantastic additions to the care we provide. I am so proud of the team who prioritise patient care every day for ensuring our patients have a positive experience whilst they are with us.”
The SaTH Children and Young People service has also been highlighted for good practice by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for:
- The ward had the support of a mental health nurse, who worked directly on the ward and offered support and training to staff.
- The ward employed a hospital teacher who worked term times. The ward also employed youth workers and play specialists.
- Staff understood and respected the personal, cultural, social, and religious needs of children, young people, and their families and how they may relate to care needs.
- There is a parents’ room where they are able to make hot and cold drinks and a fridge for food brought to the ward.
- The service had regular visits from Lottie the therapy dog. Lottie attended the ward and contributed positively to the emotional support of patients.
- The staff were trained in specific neurological conditions such as autism awareness.
Following its CQC inspection at the end of 2023, SaTH’s Children and Young People service is now rated as ‘good’ across all five domains which is a significant improvement from the previous rating of ‘inadequate’.
Hayley Flavell, Director of Nursing, said:“Our Children and Young People Team is absolutely fantastic, their commitment and energy to provide the best possible care for our patients is so inspiring. I am really proud that this has also been recognised by the CQC.”
