Bristol Dementia Wellbeing Service and Beech Unit Shortlisted for BMJ Award

Posted by Devon Partnership Trust in #ProudofDPT, Mental health, News on 1st March, 2019

We are thrilled to announce that two of our teams - Beech Unit and Bristol Dementia Wellbeing Service - have been shortlisted for BMJ Awards. The BMJ Awards are the UK's leading medical awards, bringing together healthcare teams from across the country. 

Bristol Dementia Wellbeing Service has been nominated in the category "Care of the Older Person Team".  This is really exciting news for the service and will bring well-deserved national recognition for the innovative model of care they provide.

This particular awards category is new for 2019 and will be presented to “a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency team which has consistently demonstrated a person-centred approach to older people’s health and social care and so measurably improved healthcare outcomes for older people.”

The Dementia Wellbeing Service is delivered in partnership between Alzheimer’s Society and Devon Partnership NHS Trust and since 1 April 2015, it has been responsible for delivering dementia services in the city.

The nomination demonstrated how this unique partnership has transformed dementia care in Bristol, providing a consistency of person-centred support. As a service that does not discharge, as long as someone wants to receive the service they will remain with the service throughout their journey.

Stephen Collings, Contract Business Manager for the service says: “We are immensely proud to have been nominated for this prestigious award and it is a national recognition of the hard work of our staff and their shared commitment to improving dementia care for people and their carers. We look forward to the awards and the opportunity to showcase the service amongst the best examples of care across the NHS”.

Beech Unit, which is based at Torbay Hospital and provides treatement for older people with severe mental health needs, has been nominated for "Clinical Leadership". 

Dr Mark Harrison, Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist at Beech, said, "This shortlisting reflects the hard work of a large number of clinicians in the Beech Unit over the last seven years. That commitment and hard work has taken the Beech Unit to a position whereby it is now seen as an excellent place to work, as reflected in the fact that we have not had an unfilled vacancy of any sort for over 3 years.

"Such a stable staff group has meant that we have been able to reduce our use of bank and agency staff to a minimum, and this contributed to the ward being approximately £70,000 under budget in the last financial year. We have taken an enthusiastic approach to quality improvement, and this has been reflected in multiple small cost savings that simultaneously improve patient care. The quality of care is good, as reflected in the fact that we have not had a formal complaint in the last 3 years, and the metrics around falls and violence are all low.

As a team, we are proud and genuinely committed to doing the very best for our patients, and it is a real pleasure to have been shortlisted for this award."

We wish both teams the very best of luck at the Awards, and look forward to learning the results on April 24!