Clinical Nurse Lead Donna Phillips of Scotter Ward a nurse led community hospital ward in John Coupland Hospital in Gainsborough part of Lincolnshire Community Health Services wanted an innovative way of celebrating the positive elements of the ward. She wanted staff to be motivated and empowered by the many positive things instead of concentrating on the negative aspects that too often challenge the NHS today.
Her idea of demonstrating this in the form of a positivity tree was born. The tree started off as just the trunk and the bare branches Staff and patients have helped the tree grow by writing a positive comment on a leaf and adding it to the tree.
Comments on leaves by staff and patients include 'feels like a family everyone has their place and individuality' 'Always leave shift feeling no matter how small we have made a difference' 'Scotter Ward team spirit helps us to overcome most obstacles. I value the team I work with' 'The staff and everyone who works here make this place feel like a home from home. They feed you well, help you and talk to you and give you the strength to get well'
The idea has developed further and now has the addition of feedback clouds in the sky which show snippets of feedback taken from the I want great care website and thank you cards sent by patients and relatives.
The tree takes pride of place in the ward day room. Donna is overwhelmed by how the tree has been received and is delighted how the idea has been adopted by others through sharing it on the wards twitter page @scotterwardLCHS She says 'It gives me great pleasure and pride to read the comments and also to see how the positive comments have helped to make staff feel more fulfilled in their daily work'