A hospital children’s team has won a national award for the care, dedication and compassion shown to their patients.
The Children’s Diabetes team at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is celebrating after being honoured by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH).
The doctors, nurses, dietitians and a psychologist, were selected for the ‘Voice Champion of the Year Award’ for their commitment to engaging with young people in Bradford; they were presented with their award at the annual RCPCH conference.
Consultant Paediatrician, Mat Mathai, who received the award on behalf of the team, said:
Involving our children, young people and families in making decisions about their diabetes care, and how we run our service, not only empowers them to take ownership of their health, it also makes sure our service aligns with their needs and preferences and improves the quality of care we provide.
We are really grateful to Anita Sehdev and Emma Sparrow from the RCPCH&US team who showed us how to do this simply and practically.
We continue to learn how to do things better. We were surprised but delighted to pick up the award on behalf of our amazing young people and team.
RCPCH &Us is an advisory group of children, young people, parents and carers, which has been created by the Royal College to actively seek and share views which go on to influence and shape policy and practice.
Every year, children and young people from RCPCH &Us review nominations and select a ‘Voice Champion of the Year’, recognising the winner’s commitment to working with RCPCH &Us to improve child health collaboratively with young people and adults. The award recognises paediatric health workers who have gone ‘over and above’ to support the group’s projects.
The judges said:
We were so impressed that from a chance conversation with our youth worker last summer, how much you have been supporting engagement in Bradford.
You opened up your clinics to have our youth workers visit to help your children, young people and families feed into a national review on experiences of patients which was great.
Then you said you wanted to learn more about engagement and you asked for training, coaching and worked with our youth worker to host your own clinic chat – always asking for advice, sharing your hopes and ideas and being advocates for youth voice. We hope that you continue to inspire us and your colleagues.
There are currently 221 young people with diabetes who attend the Trust’s hospitals at Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke’s Hospital for treatment and care.
This year, 50 nominees were scored against the four core values of RCPCH &Us which provides a structure to identify and evidence the impact of their support through education, collaboration, engagement and change.
The Bradford Children’s Diabetes team includes:
- Shaun Gorman – Consultant Paediatrician
- Mathew Mathai – Consultant Paediatrician
- Rebecca Schoner – Consultant Paediatrician
- Donna Ashcroft – Lead Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Nurse
- Bryan Dixon – Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Nurse
- Jess Boocock – Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Nurse
- Renu Ali – Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Nurse
- Michelle Clarke – Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Nurse
- Alison Woodhead – Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Dietitian
- Molly Garnet – Paediatric Diabetes Dietitian
- Sarah Haigh – Paediatric Diabetes Administrator
- Vickie Lee – Clinical Psychologist
