Pictured above at the presentation are (left to right) Dietitians Kathryn Pitchers & Jayne Lewis, AHP Lead and Professional Lead Dawn Goudge, Dietitian David Wicksman, CEO Dr Nick Broughton, Trust Chair David Walker, Lead Governor Mike Hobbs and in front Dietitian Vivienne Harrison.
The Community Dietetics Team part of the Older People and Community Services Directorate were the winners for the March Exceptional People Team Award and received their prize in a ceremony hosted by Trust Chair David Walker and CEO Dr Nick Walker at the Trust headquarters at Littlemore Mental Health Centre.
CEO Dr Nick Broughton congratulated the team for taking the initiative to bring down waiting lists via a coordinated team effort.
Rising to the challenge
The Dietetics team action concerns in relation to the longstanding patient waiting list. Without hesitation, the team rose to the challenge of setting up 29 clinics in one week showing a care and concern to patients who had been waiting on lists for up to seven months. Safe practice was ensured by peer support and cover for other clinical caseloads over that week and excellence was illustrated not only by clinical staff’s expertise but also by the support of the admin team, especially around the new system of EMIS.
The team are also commended for the success of ‘Blitz Week’ which entailed all clinical staff conducting one clinic a day involving all registered dietitians (including senior management) commandeered in to help out. 29 clinics in total were conducted during this week encompassing 145 patient consultations by the team and subsequently removed off their waiting list. The team now plan to learn from this exercise and share this with other teams who may be able to do something similar.
This could not have been done without the whole support of the PPC team, with the Head of Pathway giving their approval, AHP leads and ops support in the background and the fabulous admin team stepping up once again to initially set up the clinics.
The nomination
AHP Lead and Professional Lead for Dietetics Dawn Goudge who nominated the team said”
“There is huge pride felt in leading this team, who frequently punch above their weight, step up time and again (with various radical schemes) but largely remaining below the radar compared to some other larger services. First and foremost, it is the real sense of achievement felt by every member of the team who all pull together for the benefit for all the patients, who some have been waiting patiently on various lists for some considerable.
All patients, without exception, have been grateful of the expertise we have now been able to provide for them, improving their diet, health and wellbeing. The Community dietetic team really do make a difference and this highlights true meaning of the Trust’s shared values, safe, caring and excellent! The community dietetic team strive to be the best we can, delivering specialist expert clinical care resulting in positive outcomes and putting our patients first.”
Published: 5 April 2023