Heartbeat: Innovation drives Sandwell team to prestigious Macmillan award
January 5, 2022
There are many talented people working within our Trust, and awards ceremonies and events throughout the year further highlight the fantastic individuals within our organisation. The Macmillan Professionals Excellence Awards provided another success story for the Trust.
“The Macmillan Professionals Excellence Awards are an opportunity to recognise the outstanding contribution Macmillan Professionals make to cancer services.” A Macmillan representative explained to Heartbeat. “The awards also bring our unique spirit to life by showcasing not just what Macmillan professionals do, but how they do it – with heart, with strength, with ambition.”
Macmillan professionals and teams have been at the forefront of the Coronavirus response, and have moved mountains to support colleagues and people living with cancer when they needed it most.
Sandwell Hospital was represented thanks to the Macmillan Upper GI/HPB CNS team who were nominated in the innovation category. This category is for nominees and teams who have introduced a new approach to service or product development and delivery, and the team’s approach was such that not only did it make a massive difference to patients it also secured them victory and the award.
The Macmillan Upper GI/HPB CNS team identified that not all of their patients received a diagnosis within this timeframe because they had to wait for an appointment with a consultant for the news to be broken to them, and the availability of these appointments was limited.
To bring diagnosis times down, the team pioneered a structured cancer clinic led by Advanced Clinical Practitioner, Jo Harvey.
During the clinic, Jo (supported by CNSs Kath Johnson, Grace Preece and cancer care navigator Kerrie Burns) breaks the news to patients, organises tests and further biopsies and refers patients on to oncologists.
Not only has this innovative and cost effective way of working led to 81 per cent of patients achieving the 28-day diagnosis standard compared to the previous 46 per cent, but it’s also given patients a complete and holistic experience.
This year’s winners were announced at a ceremony held at the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel in Manchester on Tuesday 2 November. The ceremony, hosted by actor and presenter Richard Blackwood, was attended by 300 health and social care professionals and guests.
Speaking on behalf of the team at the event, Jo said: “The most rewarding thing is the autonomous practice that we have and the collaborative working. We function fully as a team and I think that’s because we have the same drive, passion and empathy.”