Innovation Fund Projects
To support clinical engagement and empower staff to innovate, the Board implemented a ‘2009/10 Innovation Fund’. The fund invited staff directly involved in the patient’s/client’s journey to apply for up to £7,000 funding to implement small scale innovations to enhance the quality of their service delivery. The fund received fifty-seven applications and thirteen staff projects are being supported across Coventry and Warwickshire. The projects being funded are outlined in the following list:
Actively boosting communication: Warwickshire Community Health
Communication frequently breaks down between clients with acquired speech and language difficulties and their carers. Working with expert patients, this project aims to create a DVD and associated education resources to enable and enhance communication between these clients and their carers thereby ensuring a level of competence, which Care Providing agencies may find useful when matching carers to clients.
Club 600, a weight loss programme for wheelchair users and those with poor mobility: Warwickshire Community Health
This project is developing and implementing a programme to address the complex area of weight control for overweight and obese people who have limited mobility or are wheelchair users, and support their carers and family.
Development of a domiciliary blood gas measurement service: George Eliot NHS Hospital Trust
This project aims to bring care closer to home by introducing a domiciliary blood gas measurement service delivered by the Respiratory Early Discharge Service to facilitate early intervention.
Early intervention guided self-help booklets for young people experiencing OCD : Coventry & Warwickshire Partnership Trust
There is currently no cognitive behavioural therapy based self-help guidance available in the area that is in a user friendly format for young people experiencing ‘Obsessive Compulsive Disorder’. This project is therefore developing and implementing a self-help tool that can be used by children, young people and their parents. It can also be used to educate staff regarding the recommended management techniques children and young people experiencing ‘Obsessive Compulsive Disorder’.
‘Healthy Steps’: University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire
The project is increasing the scope of ‘Healthy Steps’, an exercise to music programme recently implemented for breast cancer patients (August 2009). The programme empowers patients to manage their Lymphoedema and has been positively received. The new programme is being extended to include patients experiencing other cancers.
Improving the quality of service for bereaved relatives: South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust
The project is supporting the development of a co-ordinated quality bereavement service, providing a comfortable environment with appropriate furnishings and a more sensitive method for the packaging and handover of deceased patients’ property.
Increasing the effectiveness of hand washing in children aged 2-7: Coventry Community Health Services
This project aims to improve the effectiveness of children’s hand washing by developing and implementing a fun, child friendly tool to educate them to use the correct technique. An interactive hand washing song with associated actions is being developed along with educational resources to support its implementation.
MacGregor Ward pre-admission DVD: South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust
This project is producing an up to date version of the pre-operative preparation DVD used to prepare children for elective and emergency operations. The aim of the film is to demystify the hospital experience and act as a calming agent for both children and parents. The DVD will follow the child’s journey from Admission until after surgery and will be filmed on location in the hospital.
Stop Cyber-bullying: Coventry Community Health Services
This project is working with children and young people to develop and implement an education campaign to: alert them to ways they can inadvertently become cyber bullies; educate them to be accountable for their actions and how to stand up to all forms of cyber bullying.
To introduce a chemotherapy prescription tracking system: University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire
Currently there is no commercial system available that can track chemotherapy prescriptions. This project will therefore Commission the development and implementation of an electronic chemotherapy tracking system, the aim being to increase staff productivity.
Upper limb training programme for stroke patients: Warwickshire Community Health
Upper limb practice is a vital part of rehabilitation and can often mean the difference between independence and requiring care/adaptations. This project involves purchasing upper limb training equipment and educating staff to use it thereby enabling them to incorporate into the management of their patients.
Utilising young people’s experiences of complex care to support others: Coventry Community Health Services
The Children’s Community Nurses Youth Group includes children and young people with complex care needs (e.g. oncology, Muscular Dystrophy etc) and their siblings. This project will facilitate them to express their voice regarding what is important to them and their families by producing the DVD ‘they wish had been available to them when they/their siblings were faced with complex care needs’. The DVD will be used to support other children and young people with complex care needs and their families, and to educate health care staff regarding their needs.
- Admission
When a patient is admitted to hospital. - Commissioning
Process by which the health needs of the local population are identified. Priorities for investment are set and appropriate services are purchased and evaluated. Primary Care Trusts do not provide all of the healthcare services needed by the local population, they buy-in or commission services from other provider organisations. Typically this includes local hospitals. - stroke
A stroke is caused by a disturbance of blood supply to the brain. Strokes are the leading cause of disability in the UK and the third most common cause of death after cancer and coronary heart disease. - elective
An elective patient is one who attends the hospital for planned treatments and care - Obesity
Obesity is when a person is carrying too much body fat for their height and sex. A person is considered obese if they have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or greater. BMI is a measurement of your weight in kilograms divided by your height in metres squared. Obesity can happen when you eat more calories than you burn off over a period of time.