Nottinghamshire Healthcare celebrate hat trick of awards

The winners, including Rampton Hospital, showcased co-production and patient involvement at its best.

Dr Sue Elcock, executive medical director/executive director of forensic services said: “We were delighted to see the work of both units in meeting service user needs recognised at these fabulously inclusive awards. Both teams focussed on service users taking a key role in the highlighted projects, sharing exciting experiences that will benefit those who took part and serving as an inspiration to others.

“We always aim to use current experiences to improve the future experience of everyone accessing our services and I am proud of the achievements celebrated in these awards. I hope that they will inspire similar work across the Trust.”

The winning projects included Create and Resonate, Rampton Hospital which won the Health and Wellbeing Award.

Over a ten week period, service users from Rampton attended a specially designed programme which aimed to explore performance and improvisation skills and raise self-esteem. It culminated in five patients from the male mental health service each performing live for an audience of almost 40 peers and a range of staff.

Glenn Painter, senior occupational therapist (OT), said: “It’s important that we support service users with new developments in digital technology for day-to-day needs, as well as using it to inspire them both emotionally and physically through music. We were incredibly grateful for the support of local musicians Rezzonator and ShelterCalm.”

And the winner of the Breaking Down Barriers Award was ‘Deaf Awareness Week’ on the Grampian Ward at Rampton Hospital. This project included a "voices off" football tournament, challenging hearing patients to play without sound; a charity event with activities like lipreading challenges and "Guess the Sign"; and co-writing a Deaf Awareness presentation to deliver to hearing peers.

Darren Lount, ward manager, said: “It was important as part of this project for the service users to promote deafness not as a disability – it’s actually a different culture.

“It was exciting to see service users sharing the Deaf experience with others from around the hospital and how other service users embraced the experience and what it taught them.”