Melissa Canavan of Lincoln Green Medical Centre in Leeds pledged to 'improve quality of care and try to reduce variation of respiratory care in Leeds, through education'. To do this, she decided to set up the Leeds Respiratory Network. She needed a partner-in-crime to help her with this, so she contacted long-term friend and Practice Nurse, Sarah Anderson.
Together, Melissa and Sarah set up Leeds Respiratory Network, to try and improve the quality of respiratory care in Leeds. They do this through education and dissemination of information. They have a mailing list, facebook, twitter and blog page. The Respiratory Network also hold educational meetings. They hope that by sharing best practice as it becomes available, this will help keep nurses updated and current, which will have a positive impact on the patients and the care they receive.
On the 22nd October, 2014, the Leeds Respiratory Network held the first Joint Respiratory Network event in Leeds. 'From Cradle to Grave', a conference supported by the Primary Care Respiratory Society, was designed as a guide through the issues facing those working in respiratory health.
Melissa and Sarah are now looking to develop The Leeds Respiratory Network into a social enterprise. They have recently received a kick start grant from Leeds Community Foundation and a Do It Award from Unltd, to support this development.
“We would highly recommend other health care professionals to be innovative and push the boundaries to improve the quality of patient care. We have found it very rewarding and it is opening a wealth of opportunities for us without invading too much of our spare time.”
In the above film, Practice Nurse and co-founder of the Leeds Respiratory Network, Sarah Anderson talks about what inspired her and fellow co-founder Melissa Canavan to set up a first-of-it's-kind professional network in Leeds.