A Consultant Ophthalmologist and an NHS manager have won a £30,000 award to invest in their professional development, to support a quality improvement project in the first year of a new award scheme rewarding clinical and managerial partnerships.
Miss Rachel Pilling, a Consultant Ophthalmologist, and Daniel Wadsworth, Deputy Head of Access at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, won the Sir Peter Carr Award after they impressed judges with their project idea “15 seconds – 30 minutes”. This encourages NHS staff to complete a small task today, that might take 15 seconds but may save colleagues 30 minutes by avoiding further tasks down the line. The initiative aims to reduce frustration at work, increase job satisfaction and as a result, improve patient experience.
Miss Rachel Pilling said: “Winning this award will allow Daniel and I to develop our skills as leaders of improvement and help us bring our vision to life. Over the past few years, to increase efficiency, we have streamlined patient pathways, but sometimes unwittingly create work for someone else in the organisation. Using our new quality improvement skills will help us identify how we might make a small change in our practise, to make a big change in someone else’s workload, reducing frustration and as result, improving patient care.”
The pair will use the money to fund access to several courses, including attending the Sheffield Microsystem Coaching Academy and to attend a number of healthcare conferences, as well as making a visit to The Virginia Mason Institute, which is world renowned for its approach to patient experience and quality improvement.
Daniel Wadsworth said: “Rachel and I have worked together for a few years now, and we both have a passion for making improvements that will benefit our patients. Winning the award will allow us to develop our skills further, enabling us to make bigger and better improvements for patients. I am really looking forward to being able to attend courses, conferences and making a trip to the Virginia Mason Institute, which will deepen our knowledge of quality improvement and patient experience. Without the award, these opportunities would have been out of our reach.”
The winners of the first Sir Peter Carr award were picked from over 90 applications.
The runner up pairing, Dr Anna Winfield a Patient Safety and Quality Manager and Dr Alison Cracknell, a Consultant Geriatrician, both from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, have also been awarded £10,000 towards their on-going professional development.
Sir Peter Carr said: “This award is an innovative attempt to encourage continuous improvement at all levels in the NHS. I am delighted that the first group of award winners and runners up were of such a high standard – it really shows the level of innovation and improvement going on within the NHS front line. I hope this award provides a platform for all the finalists to develop themselves, to inspire others and , most importantly, to transform care for patients. I am looking forward to seeing their progress.”
The Sir Peter Carr award was created by NHS Improvement to help and inspire the leaders of tomorrow to make improvements for patients. The award acknowledges Sir Peter Carr’s outstanding contribution to the NHS, with over 25 years’ service and the importance NHS Improvement attaches to investing in leadership for improvement, a key part of the national framework Developing People, Improving Care.
Jim Mackey, Chief Executive of NHS Improvement said: “The NHS faces real challenges, but the way we will tackle them is by investing in the leaders of the future and providing them with the tools and advice that will give them the best chance of success. That is exactly what the award is aimed at and is at the heart of heart of NHS Improvement's mission. Sir Peter Carr has been a huge influence on my career, both supporting and inspiring me over the years. I’m so pleased that a part of his legacy will now be to do the same for these partnerships. I look forward to seeing their progress as they strive to deliver real improvement for patients.”
You can find out more detail on the NHS Improvement website