Starting an elbow crutch recycling scheme has resulted in Shirley Rashid, from Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT), being shortlisted for a national award - maybe she can win an Academy of Fab Stuff award too!
Shirley, a Professional Lead Occupational Therapist, is one of just four finalists in the Greener Allied Health Professions Award 2023, run by England’s Chief Allied Health Professions Officer Suzanne Rastrick. This recognises a team or individual who has improved a service, while at the same time reduced healthcare’s environmental impact.
During 2022, Shirley was successful in a bid for funding from the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) to buy a stock of 50 pairs of elbow crutches, to make them readily available to people in the community. Previously getting the crutches had meant ordering a pair each time they were needed and patients having to wait.
However, the elbow crutches were non-returnable. Concerned about the impact on the environment and keen that the crutches should help as many people as possible, Shirley set about putting a new system in place. Thanks to her efforts, they can now be taken back to the KCHFT community hospital or clinic where they were given out. Work is also underway to set up recycling stores at Deal Hospital and Tonbridge Community Hospital, where various equipment could be returned.
Shirley said: “We were seeing people in the community who needed these, but ordering them individually took a lot of form filling and waiting time for patients.
“We did some work with the ICB and demonstrated there was also a need for us to have a stock of these for people we see in the community, so we could give them out straightaway.
“The problem was people could not return them. Physiotherapists give out a lot of equipment and I felt a responsibility around sustainability, which is why I set up the recycling scheme.
"We’ve had good results so far. Patients get the crutches quicker and feel better that they can return them to the NHS. We aim to increase the return rate of equipment prescribed by KCHFT.
"As well as improving the environmental impact, I'm so pleased we can now help people quicker. Patients have commented that crutches increase their independence, help them get out of the house, that they feel more confident and empowered and like they are making progress and that they have helped with both physical and mental health and wellbeing."
The winner will be announced mid-October 2023.
Shirley's recycling scheme came off the back of a quality improvement project she had carried out at the trust, to get people elbow crutches faster and to reduce clinician time in ordering them.
You can read and download the full project plan HERE