Social Purpose Learning Champion Award Winner
Peter McGarry (Tameside)
Eye Witness Theatre
Pete epitomises social purpose learning in action. He says,’ As I hurtle towards my seventies I feel an ever increasing ambition to write something of value. Although I have had TV, radio and theatre success I am still wrenched towards using my writing to enhance the quality of life for others – rather than gaining recognition in insubstantial, and transitory, conventions of the mainstream.’ Since qualifying as a social worker in 1977 Pete’s career has been underpinned by a series of opportunities that have served as an innovative platform both for development in writing and in the provision of health and social care awareness and training.
His writing has been bound up with his social work practice as a child protection specialist and he has been deeply attracted to the idea of using performance as a theatrical tool for training and learning in child protection/safeguarding arenas. He formed Eye Witness Theatre Company to support the production of theatre based training modules and over the last twenty five years such modules – both as theatre production and film - have been delivered to multiagency professionals not only in the UK and Ireland but also in Australia, US/Canada and across Europe. More recently he adds, ‘Chronological inevitability is directing my ambition, to further develop scripts, scenarios and plays with inter-active workshops not only for training and awareness for professionals but for older people too. Such modules have, so far, been instrumental in engendering dialogue between professionals in adult social care and older people’.
Nominated by Nell Corrin
Digital Innovation in Health Care Award Winner
Validate Your Care (V-Care) - Library and E-Learning Service
The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
Validate Your Care (V-Care) is a powerful knowledge assurance tool for those working in adult acute care, facilitating a flexible approach to learning and development. It aims to provide an evidence-based, one stop, user friendly on-line learning portal to support busy nurses; to assess, develop and assure themselves of their knowledge across core areas of fundamental nursing care. It has provided an opportunity to assure the public and other stakeholders that its nursing workforce is up-to-date, and practising caring and compassionate evidence based care. It is accessible at any time in or out of the trust, on any device. Completion of the programme takes between 2–10 hours and it is structured around three modules:
- Recognition and management of the deteriorating adult
- Care of older people in health care settings
- Evidence based acute medical and surgical nursing care
The V-Care team developed core resources in conjunction with a leading professor of nursing, who worked closely with subject matter experts, working in the trust to develop subject specific content that was up to date, and relevant to current training practices within the trust. Verification was sought by scoping local and national policy directives and through a survey of senior nurses across Greater Manchester. The resulting programme engenders the 6 C’s, reduces duplication of the requirements of some mandatory training, uses the best available evidence and supports nurses to prepare for the professional revalidation requirements from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). The team now hope to roll V-Care out to other clinical areas and other NHS organisations.
Nominated by John Bramwell
Asset Based Approaches to Community Development Award Winner
Community Links (Lancashire)
Rossendale Enterprise Anchor Limited (REAL)
REAL (Rossendale Enterprise Anchor Limited) is an exemplary model of asset based approaches in community development. REAL works with and for the communities of the Rossendale Valley by supporting and increasing the capacity of the voluntary, community and faith sectors (VCFS), by further developing partnerships within public and private sectors in order to help make Rossendale a better place to live, work and visit. The trustees are all social entrepreneurs who are passionate about the area. Founding member Dorothy Mitchell says there are a number of aspects of REAL work which adds to the community impact:
Community Links is a highly accessible, central repository of resources to promote wellbeing which highlights the role of social prescribing opportunity (non-medical interventions). It uses ‘fun, food and friendship with a health benefit’ to support ‘doing things which can become a good habit’. Encompassing over 400 organisations it provides ‘simple cost effective solutions’ which improve wellbeing and drive up community resilience.
REAL Involvement helps groups and individuals take part in their community. This includes practical information sessions, share and tell events, a weekly news bulletin, befriending services and a community minibus. The team supports consultation processes so that the people in Rossendale have a voice in what happens to them. They help start up groups, find funds and share information. They advise small groups wanting to start up social enterprises or to form a charity. REAL Involvement is run by older people voluntarily sharing their learning experience to help Rossendale thrive.
Nominated by Dorothy Mitchell
Joint Asset Based Community Development Runners Up
Hyde Community Action – Women Supporting Women
Court Thorn Surgery PPG – Transforming Lives through Community Health Seminars.
This Award was sponsored by VSNW.
Widening Participation in Health and Care Project Award Winner
Traineeship Programme (Merseyside)
NHS Liverpool Clinical Laboratories
Liverpool Clinical Laboratories (LCL) is a multidisciplinary NHS pathology service, jointly owned by the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals and University Hospitals Aintree, developed to provide high quality diagnostic and autopsy services as well as specialist pathology services. They welcomed their first traineeship students in 2017 as part of a bid to use NHS leverage to promote social mobility and to create a sustainable workforce for the future, whilst getting young people interested in careers in healthcare science. A thirteen week course delivered in partnership with Wirral Met College, combines classroom based learning and on the job training, with the aim of enhancing students CV’s and furthering their career options after school or college. Students are taught how to receive and check blood and tissue samples and perform laboratory reception duties, giving them the skills and experience which could help them go on to apply for a job as a healthcare science assistant.
Dave Eccleston, Head of Modernising Scientific Careers at LCL says,’ The course is an opportunity to not only show young people the range of rewarding and valued careers in the NHS, but to give them skills and experience to make their CV stand out from the crowd. By offering a high quality work experience placement at the end of the training, students boost their chances of getting paid employment and improve their career prospects, whether that’s with us or with other NHS organisations.’ The project has evolved to ensure it is fully inclusive of the local community.
Nominated by Nicholas Fowler-Johnson
Widening Participation in Health and Care Project Runner-up
Widening Participation and CSR – Salford Royal Foundation Trust
Supporting Learners Award Winner
Supporting Bereaved Relatives - Royal Lancaster Infirmary
University Hospital Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT)
This unique training package was initially devised to support porters when collecting a deceased patient to take them to the mortuary. The project focused on ensuring porters felt knowledgeable and confident in their roles and as a result bereaved relatives would feel more supported. The objective was to ensure porters were able able to converse with family members sensitively even in the most difficult circumstances. This training was also part of a response to the Better Endings report (NIHR 2015) which highlighted the need to improve end of life care.
After a period of consultation a pilot workshop was developed, which has since been extended to include other non-clinical staff. This targeted and flexible training was both factual and practical in content, delivered in tandem by a specialist bereavement nurse and project lead, Helen O’Neil, the education facilitator. Importantly it allowed staff to share their experiences, whilst UHMBT learnt how impactful training with small groups can be on service delivery. UHMBT also realised how much staff appreciated the training investments, and soon realised how much staff appreciated the training investments. The trust is now very clear about the integral role nonclinical staff play in supporting patients and relatives at the end of life. Although the initial focus was on increasing porter confidence and knowledge it has changed practice too, refocusing attention on what was actually happening on wards by highlighting simple, often minor steps to build better practice.
Nominated by Janet Thorpe
HEE Ingenuity Award Winner
Singing For People With Long Term Illnesses
Inspire Social Enterprise
Inspire is a social enterprise developed by professional musicians, educators and researchers. Inspire grew out of a HEFCE ‘Do It’ award at the University of Manchester. This award aimed to encourage people with long term conditions to become actively involved in singing and music as a way of improving personal resilience, independence and self-care. Work to date has concentrated on people with respiratory disease and aphasia (communication difficulties following strokes etc.) Inspire’s pioneering work has focused on developing singing models that are tailored to the needs and expectations of people with a variety of long term conditions. This work has included establishing a network of singing groups for the North West; fostering independence and building in sustainability for initiatives; evaluating the physical and psychological benefits of singing groups and ultimately understanding the cost effectiveness and social value of this type of social prescribing activity.
Being part of a choir enables members to learn a wide variety of new skills e.g. new songs; rhythm and harmony as well as learning vital breath control. From the outset choir members are taught performance techniques and how to sing in public. The choirs have relished the opportunity of performing to a wide variety of audiences and venues including the Royal College of Music in London and the Lowry Theatre. Choir members have also been invited to speak at a variety of meetings about their condition and the many health benefits of participating in a choir, including a workshop at the 2016 International Festival for Public Health in Manchester.
Nominated by Dr Adam Garrow
Ingenuity Project Award Runner Up
Dadly Does It – Chris Dabbs – Unlimited Potential, Salford and Rochdale
HEE Innovation Award Winner
The Greater Manchester Genomics Education Programme
Manchester Centre for Genomic Education, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The 100,000 Genome Project is an ambitious, transformational healthcare project that allies cutting edge science and technology, clinical care and research. The initiative involves collecting and decoding 100,000 human genomes – complete sets of people’s genes – (DNA) – to enable scientists and doctors to understand more about specific conditions. Understanding DNA and how it can predict and prevent disease, provide a precise diagnosis and direct targeted treatment is a key component of personalised care. One of thirteen centres nationally ambitiously promoting whole genome sequencing and establishing the city as a key player in a national healthcare system.
Dr Glenda Beaman the project education training lead has trail blazed; working with expert patients and clinical staff to jointly develop and deliver a multi-faceted, education and training programme designed to provide healthcare professionals across Greater Manchester with the knowledge and confidence to refer in to the project. This has involved establishing Genomic Cafes, grand rounds in hospitals, training for GPs and educational session for every foundation year doctor, plus regular talks at nursing forums; as well as significant patient and public engagement events to raise awareness. This work has impacted significantly on the number of genome referrals. Professor Newman said,’ More people have been reached in one year than the previous twenty years’, with over 10,000 direct contacts.
Nominated by Professor Bill Newman
Widening Participation in Health and Care Award Winner
Simon Haworth (Cheshire)
Lane End Construction Developments LTD
This community champion invests much time and energy in coaching and mentoring children and young people from across the North West. He inspires them to follow their dreams and to believe in themselves because he believes in them. He is a veteran, and an accomplished boxer, who openly admits that he initially, struggled to settle in to civvy street, ‘knowing nothing but how to use his fists’. At his lowest point he had no friends, no money or home.
Simon is no angel. However he is a man who has learnt how to say sorry and to recognise his own shortcomings. He has also found a powerful way to make amends for past wrongs, firmly believing life’s mistakes can always provide the opportunity for new lessons learnt. His learning transition can only be characterised as transformative as he has clearly left behind a ‘once angry man’ whose life lacked purpose or direction to become someone who can freely and openly give of himself. Needless to say his early journey quickly spiralled out of control ending in a prison sentence but he turned his life around and developed a new found sense of direction by putting something back. He turned a very big corner and his ambition is to help others to do the same. He has a very clear message, ’There is always hope, apply yourself to your chosen field, learn from every experience, never give up and you too can change your lives for the better.’
Nominated by Kathryn Harrison
Widening Participation in Health Care Runner Up
Caroline Ingram – Countess of Chester Foundation Trust, Chester
Volunteer of the Year in Health and Care Award Winner
Lisa Harding (Lancashire) Pathways
Lisa describes each day as a joy but it wasn’t always that way. She was an active addict for over 40 years and regularly engaged in severe self-harm. She has you might say, experienced ‘life’s ups and downs’ and many of what she describes as life’s tricky tests but she has come through to the other side a stronger person, equipped to help others, buoyed by a new found confidence and an energising zest for life. Lisa’s learning journey can only be characterised as one of self-discovery and growth. Through her volunteering and the training she has accessed she has been empowered. She has gained vital self-esteem and a deep sense of purpose, along with a huge capacity to help others. Never one to seek the limelight or look for praise she just gets on with turning her own personal experiences and knowledge of substance abuse into something which is relatable to others; something people can gain insight and knowledge from to build better lives.
Now three years into recovery Lisa is a beacon of hope to her community, inspiring those who knew her before and also those who know her now who are thinking and wanting to change but simply don’t know how. Lisa is an open book for advice and guidance whilst also providing a good listening ear.
Nominated by Sean Cusack
Joint Volunteer of the Year Runners Up
John Dix – Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Chester Chris Makin – Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Trust