Nine nominees make up the final shortlist for this year’s Kate Granger Compassionate Care Awards.

The finalists were selected from 117 entrants in the three award categories.

Now in their third year the awards were set up by Kate Granger, the terminally ill doctor who worked tirelessly to raise awareness around compassion in the NHS through her #hellomynameis social media campaign.

A panel that included Kate’s close friend and colleague Dr Natalie Silvey, Kate’s husband, Chris Pointon and Jane Cummings, Chief Nursing Officer for England, chose the nine finalists for this year’s awards.

Chris Pointon, will take Kate’s place at the awards at the Health and Care Innovation Expo being staged at Manchester Central on September 11 and 12.

He said: “As with the last 3 years there have been some fantastic entrants and we have again faced the difficult task of deciding the shortlist. Kate was very proud of her legacy and of how the awards have been embraced by the wonderful NHS staff. The nominees are exceptional and will highlight the dedication and commitment of everyday people who work in the NHS.”

Before her death at the age of 34, Kate said she hoped the awards would continue and grow into an even bigger event, saying: “Being a patient has taught me a huge amount about being a doctor. Prioritising compassionate care in its rightful place alongside patient safety, under the umbrella of quality is perhaps one of the most important things I have learned.”

The shortlist is made up of three nominees in each of the three award categories.

The first award is for an individual working in the NHS or delivering NHS funded services. The others are for teams or organisations who are part of the NHS, or who deliver NHS funded services. These services can be delivered in hospitals, or in a primary care, community or residential setting.

The shortlist includes an individual award nomination for a doctor who runs a project that supports elderly patients in the community with complex care needs. Finalists also include Jean McVann, a nurse who has worked for the NHS in Rotherham for her entire career and has worked tirelessly to support the most vulnerable in society.

Organisation Award nominees include the healthcare community in Shropshire and Staffordshire who have developed a shared vision to embed and recognise compassionate leadership across the region. Other nominees include Palliative Care Northumbria, a care service that supports patients and their families at home, in acute and community hospitals, in care homes, at day hospice and in dedicated NHS specialist palliative care inpatient units across Northumberland and North Tyneside.

Those shortlisted have all demonstrated how they have made a fantastic difference to patient care and, in particular, shown evidence of:

• an ambitious and innovative way of delivering care
• high-quality management and leadership
• an approach that can be easily measured and have a real impact
• how the approach has made a difference to patient care
• how it makes a difference in the long term
• how easily it can be replicated in other organisations

It was while undergoing treatment for cancer that Kate started writing about seeing the NHS “through the eyes of a patient”. She launched #hellomynameis campaign to talk about some of her intensely moving experiences. The campaign reminds health care professionals of the importance of introducing themselves to patients and how a relatively ‘little thing’ can positively affect a patient’s experience of the treatment and care they receive. It is now backed by more than 100 health trusts.

This year’s Kate Granger Awards ceremony is sponsored by HIMSS UK, a leader of transformation across health and care services using health IT.  Through its communities, analytics, media and events, HIMSS provides multiple platforms to provide health and care professionals with the rights tools and knowledge to deliver improved patient outcomes and efficiencies using technology.

For updates on Twitter follow #KGAwards17 and #Expo17NHS and #hellomynameis.

Team Award Nominees

INTERACT (Child and young person crisis prevention and resolution service) – North East London Foundation Trust

Nominated by: Stephen Mylchreest

Originally established in 2008 Interact have been recognised for their effective and high quality care for young people with mental health issues. In 2009 it expanded its community support model to include A&E liaison for 3 separate acute hospitals. The model not only maintained its success but proved its adaptability to any setting, providing care where and when it is needed. As a result the team expanded this support outside of an A&E setting and have been greatly praised by young people and their parents.

Some comments by parents and young people include:

“I’m very happy with the service and I like the connection I built with Robert as it made it so easy to open up to him. He was extremely helpful and caring and has through time, changed my ways and thinking habits. It’s made me realise that there are people there to help and that’s helped me a lot.”

“Mel’s straight forward approach really engaged my daughter. She listened which gave my daughter confidence to open up to her. The strategies given to help were completely relevant to my daughter’s needs.”

“Our family was thrown into crisis when our daughter took an overdose. Jessica saw us in hospital and then at home which was so helpful in terms of continuity. I cannot stress how invaluable her input has been to us.”

Palliative Care Northumbria

Nominated by: Eleanor Grogan

Palliative Care Northumbria is an NHS palliative care service which is not limited by boundaries. It supports patients and their families at home, in acute and community hospitals, in care homes, at day hospice and in dedicated NHS specialist palliative care inpatient units, across the huge geographical area of Northumberland and North Tyneside.

The service has been transformed over recent years from multiple small services. It has undergone integration to create a single comprehensive Palliative Care service, alongside community services and social care within one organisation.

Some of the milestones achieved have been:

• Specialist Palliative Care in-patient units in Northumberland and North Tyneside so patients are cared for in a much more person centred, caring environment by staff who are skilled in palliative and end of life care
• The development of the Palliative Modern Matron role, possibly the UK’s first in palliative and end of life care, to provide the much-needed attention and clinical leadership in this area of care.
• Palliative care liaison teams work across all hospital wards to coordinate timely discharge and support for patients and staff on the wards.
• We ensure that patients can get the right support, at the right time, so they can remain in their own homes or be discharged to their home quickly.
• The rapid response team provides urgent nursing care and support to people cared for at home, preventing unnecessary emergency admissions to hospital.

The Daisy, Green Lane, Devizes

Nominated by: Dr Manash Chattopadhyay

The Daisy, is a bespoke care unit for people with learning disabilities and/or autism. It is a purpose built unit that was designed by residents and clinicians and provides care home facilities within a building that is registered currently as a hospital. The ethos of the unit is empowerment with the resident at its very core, from design through to staffing.

The Daisy is designed to provide a community model of care for complex clients enabling them to reach their full potential. Some wonderful things have been said about the centre including:

“The success of this way of working relies on true compassion, a desire to understand the uniqueness of each individual and to provide a totally person centred environment which enables them to experience life in a way they never have before; developing a sense of self and self-worth.

To do this, requires a very special team.  And the Daisy unit has such a team.”

Organisation Nominees:

Shropshire and Staffordshire Leadership Leads Group

Nominated by: Laura Rogers

The healthcare community in Shropshire and Staffordshire have developed a shared vision to embed and recognise compassionate leadership across the region. With support and sponsorship from Health Education England in the West Midlands, a programme of compassionate leadership was launched in 2015 to embed and recognize compassionate leadership in Shropshire and Staffordshire initially, and later in the wider West Midlands.

It is an accessible scheme whereby staff, patients and carers can nominate anyone who they believe has demonstrated leading with compassion in action. The scheme is designed to acknowledge and reward compassionate acts witnessed in the moment. The process is straightforward, ‘user friendly’ and has no restrictions on who can nominate (staff or patients/service users) or be nominated.

South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Nominated by: Laurence Summers

The success of South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust’s care is down to the fact that they have one shared mission: To help people reach their potential and live well in their community. It’s this vision which unites and drives them forward in caring for the people they support.

To achieve their mission, we have a set of values that mean:

• We put the person first and in the centre
• We know that families and carers matter
• We are respectful, honest, open and transparent
• We improve and aim to be outstanding
• We are relevant today and ready for tomorrow

Recent successes include:

• The Kirklees police liaison scheme was judged by the West Yorkshire Police assistant chief constable’s panel and awarded a special commendation. The scheme was also shortlisted in Health Services Journal (HSJ) awards for innovation in mental health. The police liaison scheme involves mental health nurses working alongside officers at Halifax and Huddersfield police stations to recognise the signs of mental illness.
• Kate Markham, a health visitor from Barnsley was nationally recognised for her work to provide an inclusive and supportive health visiting service to vulnerable, hard to reach families in the district by being the shortlisted in the ‘Celebrating Public Health Excellence 2016’, which celebrates unsung public health heroes who make a difference every day to health and wellbeing in their communities.

Feedback from service users has been extremely positive:

“I would like to express sincere thanks and praise to you and your team for all the work done. I know at times mum’s case has been challenging but, throughout, the quality of service received has been excellent and much appreciated.”

“We wanted to thank you for all your care, concern and professionalism that you have given to us as a family. The help you gave us when we needed it was priceless.”

“We would like to thank you most sincerely for enabling us to have another chance with what life’s got to offer. Words will never express what we feel but thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

“I cannot thank you enough for my care, you went above and beyond to do your very best for me when I needed you most. So many names stick in my mind but my thanks go to you all. When I’m well enough I’ll call in. Forever in your debt.”

St Luke’s Hospice

Nominated by: Stella Kerins

Over the last 3 years St Luke’s Hospice has grown its capacity to support the local community. This has included allowing people to be cared for at home at the end of their life. Their service development includes a nursing home project and an award winning Advanced Liver Disease Project.

The Community engagement project has enabled the Hospice to develop services based on the needs of the local communities it serves, and reach-out to individuals and communities who may not have otherwise accessed Hospice services.

Last year alone last year there were 8,918 referrals to the main services provided by St. Luke’s, which is an increase of 10.8% on the previous year.

Individual Award Nominees

Nominee: Jean McVann

Nominated by: Tracy Cannell

Jean is a nurse who has worked for the NHS in Rotherham for her entire career. Jean has always worked tirelessly to support the most vulnerable in society, going well above and beyond the call of duty as a nurse in taking a holistic and caring approach to all. Her mantra of ‘looking beyond the label’ and the ends she goes in meeting peoples’ needs to help them, is an inspiration.

She has set up the service she leads from scratch, initially working on a voluntary basis, supporting homeless people on the streets of Rotherham as well as persuading commissioners to fund a dedicated primary care service for the homeless and the vulnerable which she has gradually built up to make the service into what it is today.

Examples of her compassion include:-

• supporting a patient who was terminally ill at home, taking medication and food
• finding accommodation for a homeless person and sourcing furniture suitable for them prior to planned surgery so they would be able to leave hospital afterwards
• providing healthcare on the streets and in shelters
• working with the Home Office, local council, benefit agency and voluntary groups to support her patients

Jean is also a parish councillor, and organises fundraising fairs and every year sets up a remembrance tree at the local cemetery at Christmas for relatives to add ribbons onto, in memory of loved ones.

One patient at the surgery had the following to say about Jean:

I find that if and when I feel the need to see Jean McVann she has always has the time and care to respond to me and is very caring and listens to me very attentively. Also she has been known to help in matters that I could not do for myself. She always has an easy going attitude towards me that puts me at ease.”

Nominee: Dr Weatherburn

Nominated by: Jason Flannigan-Salmon

Dr Weatherburn has developed a new model of care supporting elderly patients in the community who have complex care needs, to reduce admissions to A&E and hospital. He has shown passion and determination to work with stakeholders to ensure this new innovative model works and is embedded in every day practice.

Dr Weatherburn focusses not only on the person’s health but their wellbeing as well and truly looks at the whole person. Several patients have commented via their Friends and Family feedback about his dedicated and caring approach.

Nominee: Dr Rajesh Mohan

Nominated by: Dr Sridevi Kalidindi

Dr Mohan has developed and promoted systems that allow patients to be at the centre of their care process in inpatient rehabilitation services. The patient group he supports represent some of the most marginalised and disempowered people in society, with multiple and complex mental health needs. He ensures that patients are enabled to lead and actively participate in their recovery. Patient feedback has been very positive:

“I first went into hospital in 2002.  I have been in many hospitals and accommodation since.  In 2017 I achieved unescorted leave after 16 years which I plan to use sensibly.  My other achievements include having better coping strategies whilst being in hospital and writing many children stories.  I did the co-production course and I now co-facilitate the ‘knowing yourself group’….”