Rampton Round up LD Special
Southwell
Southwell held their Annual Sports day this month, year on year their attendance and activities grow. They adapted these activities to allow all the opportunity to participate, inclusion for all is a fundamental approach within the Learning disability service and Southwell demonstrate this approach time after time and the attendance rates further validates this principle. Attendance was approximately 65% of all the individuals within the Learning Disability directorate, this does not include those who opted to observe from their wards. As with all sports whether you are a competitor or spectators it is about connection and enjoyment, and all agreed it was a great day.
The Southwell team work tirelessly to support individuals within the Learning Disability directorate and so to hear that they have spread their wings to help organise and participate in the Rampton Family Fun Day 27th August demonstrates their commitment to supporting both patients, colleagues, and families. The event was held on the hospital grounds and opened by Paul, Trust Chair. With only two months planning raised £2700.
The Southwell team would like to thank Stuart (LD Health & Fitness lead ) who was the mastermind behind the whole day and played a significant role in the organisation and making it the success it was, as well as the fun had by all.
So, what happened during this fun packed day…
- Everyone was able to score points for their ward within every activity they participated in, as well as individual prizes.
- Cheltenham ward, our Admissions and ICU ward collaboratively scored the most points and were well deserved winners. To put this win into perspective some of our newest admissions worked together, alongside our intensive care patient group to achieve this outcome.
- To allow individuals from ICU to attend requires planned co-ordination between Southwell and Cheltenham staff to support these individuals to maximise their experience and participation, amazing collaborative work from all.
- The winners were announced outside at the end of the day during the presentation ceremony and as always Southwell never fail to plan everything down to the last detail and this year it even included glorious sunshine!!!
Southwell have continued with their individual swimming sessions and this month as well as continuing to support individuals that had previously attended the swim sessions, they have offered sessions to an individual who is nursed in Bio-care. They have supported this individual to gradually access activities out of Bio-care, including riding the bikes, ball sports and now swimming. Amazing work and we cannot even measure how this has supported this individual’s confidence, skills, and improvement in their quality of life. The Learning Disability directorate now has a regular swim timeslot, and they hope to continue with their high support swim sessions, supporting those who require significant adaptation and adjustments to access everyday activities. They also hope to introduce a group swim in the near future.
Sports days, swimming – is that not enough for one month? Not for Southwell!!! They have confirmed that they have secured a timeslot at the sports hall/ main gym to offer a weekly session which is due to start 15th September… so we hope to update you next month.
LD Service Updates
Aintree ward
Healthcare assistant Carl has completed his gym training and is now ready to not only support individuals in the onward cardio gym, but has undertaken the task of creating a ward group session and secured a timeslot so that Aintree can use the larger gym that has a vast array of both cardio and strength and conditioning equipment. Carl intends to use this session to support individuals that struggle to mix with peers from other wards. This reluctance can be due to sensory and social needs. Carl’s sessions will allow these individuals to access areas they typically would not be able to access and as well allow them to explore exercise to support their physical, emotional, and social wellbeing. I think we may hear more about this group in the future and hopefully inspire other wards to establish their own group… we also fully expect to hear more great things about Carl, well done Carl your group will no doubt have a positive impact on all!!!!
A familiar face to the LD update is Wayne , but we usually hear about all his wonderful work on Kempton ward. This month though we are pleased to announce he has started in his new role as the Neurodiverse Assistant Practitioner. He is a great addition to the team and Aintree have asked us to say how well he has fitted in with the ward, patients, and staff. It sounds like Wayne is already making an impact. Thanks for all your hard work on Kempton ward and I’m sure we will be updating you all on his work soon.
The amazing Katy was nominated and shortlisted for the Quality Improvement award for the project she successful implemented with the introduction of seclusion passports. This project has grown and can now be seen across our directorate and shared with colleagues within the wider hospital. As well as her nomination she has received high praise from external professionals including care treatment review panels and Care Quality commission inspectors. Katy however did not complete this project to gain praise but to create a collaborative document on how to support individuals during episodes of increase distress and risk, allow seclusion to be an individualised environment of safety and increase understanding of the individual needs by the team that offer care. Good luck Katy, this project is already a winner!!!
We previously reported that Nicola and Sarah had submitted a proposal to present at an international conference. Well, we can now tell you that they will be on their travels as they will be presenting at the International Autism Conference in Krakow, Poland after having their project accepted by the conference committee. They would also like to thank Rampton hospital for their support and for funding their attendance and travel. We hope to share the presentation in future updates, as well as the wealth of knowledge Nicola and Sarah bring back from our international colleagues.
A first within the learning Disability directorate, Sarah has commenced Systemic practice sessions with one of our patients and his family. Sarah is a both a Clinical Psychologist and trainee systemic practitioner. Sarah is undertaking systemic approaches that support and guide the family to identify changes that will improve their relationship. As professionals we identify that we are a significant part of our clients journey right now, but within their wider lifespan our hopes are that we are only a small part of that bigger journey as they move on. Sarah’s work identifies that the individuals that play an ongoing role are family and friends and if we can improve that relationship and allow it to grow and develop as part of their current journey this will only improve that ongoing journey in the future.
Aintree autism was shortlisted for the clinical team of the year at the Trust wide Oscars. Although some of us may be aware of this outcome already the ceremony took place in September, so we will share the fantastic outcome in the next update (hopefully with pictures too). What we can say is that they did not get dressed up for nothing – to be continued….
Newmarket ward
Newmarket team have supported the discharge of one of their patients this month, this piece of work has been ongoing prior to his transfer and the team have offered his new team ongoing support as required. This input included ASD specific support both for the individual and his accepting team. Although we have stated this input was ASD specific, what that means is individual specific work with attention to link this to his needs around his ASD diagnosis. As with all an individual’s diagnosis does not inform us of an individual’s needs, it only highlights areas that we should attend to and identify the individual’s specific needs in that area. Newmarket ward have not only supported this individuals discharge but offered him skills within the therapeutic community model to enable his ability to share his concerns in a productive way to progress him further on his future journey.
Cheltenham ward
Recently a new position was created to deliver the new relational security training across the hospital and in time the wider trust. We can report that Craig and Josh were both successful in gaining relational security facilitator roles. I’m sure they are looking forward to seeing you all on the training days and we know you will be amazing and incorporate your knowledge and expertise in Learning disabilities into your practice. We also want to wish Alan and Zoe luck as they were also successful and although they may no longer be here in the Learning Disability directorate, we know they have continued to share their understanding and knowledge in supporting individuals with a Learning disability, so we are excited to attend your training.
Kempton ward
And the awards keep coming – Kempton ward wanted to say congratulations and thank you to Adam and Andrew (sorry Andy) for all their work and support. So much so that their colleagues nominated them for a Cavell award, and we are pleased to say they both won!!!! Adam’s nomination was “for being so great with the patients”. If you have visited Kempton ward and seen all their artwork, then you will have seen Adam’s support and work he completes with his patients in group activities. Andy received his nomination for being so supportive of the team. Andy’s support of his entire ward is something that is often discussed in reflective practice, and it is evident that the entire team feel supported. Andy individualises his approach to meet the need of every member of his team. Many members of the wider MDT describe Kempton ward as “homely”, and this is reflective of the community feel that includes both staff and patients. Well done gentlemen you are both amazing!!!
Staffing
Sadly, for us we are losing Ben from the Southwell team. Ben has been an amazing member of the team, not only on Southwell, but within the Occupational Therapy team and on the wards during his periods of redeployment during Covid. Ben is leaving us to take up the role of Assistant psychologist, for all that know Ben he will be amazing, and you never know we may see him back at Rampton one day.
Sara is thankfully not leaving us but will be reducing her hours as she takes up a community role. Sarah will sadly not be working on Kempton ward any longer, but what we lose in time we will make up in the experience she can gain from other settings. Sarah will continue to work on Aintree ward but has expressed she will miss Kempton very much and has loved her time working with both the team and patients and wishes all the very best.
As we alluded in our last update several our staff nurses were successful at securing team leader posts, this included Daniel (Danny), Aiden , Jordan and Anna . These are well deserved appointments and we are extremely proud of all our nurses who applied. With this amazing news we also have to say goodbye to Jordan will be leaving us to take up his post in the Women’s service, where we know he will be amazing. Jordan is not only a fantastic nurse, but his care towards his colleagues will make him a great asset to the Women’s service.
Danny (Aintree) and Anna (Kempton) will remain on their current wards and Aiden will be taking up a post on Cheltenham ward. We wish them all the best of luck!!!!
We are also saying goodbye for now to Kat who is moving to the Women’s service. Kat has played a significant role in implementing the RO DBT approach for some individuals on Kempton ward. Kat has supported this alongside individuals’ weekly session and Kat’s support has demonstrated how nursing teams play a fundamental role in the implementation of psychological therapies with great success. We wish you luck and hope you succeed in your goal to become a qualified nurse now she has completed the Nurse Associate course.
This month we would like to welcome Holly to the Kempton team, we hear from the team and patients she is a great addition to the team.
We would also like to welcome Leela and Toni to our Responsible Clinician PA team. Thank you to Mandy for her warm welcome and the support she has offered them, we know how much support our RC PA teams offer the entire MDT, thank you Mandy, Leela and Toni.
Other news
We have again received an email wanting to offer thanks to a colleague from another area within the Learning Disability service. This month we want to say thank you Ollie for his efforts with getting our patients out and about. He is always the first person to ask and will always support the ward. Ollie is that person that we can all rely upon and never asks for praise, so it is great that he is given this recognition from his peers. Thank you Ollie from us all.
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