Find out more about the winners of the 2017 CAHPO Awards:

CAHPO Student of the Year 2017

Winner: Kimberley Walesby, Portsmouth Hospitals NHS

The initiative: Delivering occupational therapy as part of a fire and rescue team to improve public fire safety and public health and health of fire and rescue services staff

Kimberley undertook a contemporary/non-traditional placement in the Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service where she undertook to:

• receive referrals from the Community Safety Advisers for service users with health needs;
• deliver joint assessments;
• deliver short term interventions; and
• signpost and liaise with other agencies.

Kimberly applied occupational therapy evidence and other bio-psychosocial evidence and standardised the approach during her placement for others to build on, paving the way for the recruitment of an occupational therapist.

CAHPO Associate of the Year 2017

Winners: Avril Joesbury and Jayne Sedgwick, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust

The initiative: Little Learners’ Groups: a new model of delivering Speech & Language Therapy to children with moderate to severe learning difficulties.

This initiative teaches the parent/carer alongside teaching staff how to promote language and communication by working collaboratively in a group situation with the child.  Avril and Jayne have worked with other SLT staff to ensure consistency across each group through having a structure, and agreed rules and format that is now well established in each group.  They use follow up visits into schools more pro-actively to ensure skills are transferred and generalised.

CAHPO Digital Innovator 2017

Winner: Alicia Ridout, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

The initiative: MindWell – building an integrated co-designed mental health information portal for Leeds.

MindWell resulted from a 2013 report written by users of mental health services, highlighting serious issues with accessing information.  The aim was to deliver the portal within a 12 month period, in close partnership with citizens, clinicians, carers and organisational partners across the city of Leeds, providing an effective, web-based resource that meets the needs of key users.  Alicia led the team that worked to engage all parts of the community in Leeds and listen to their views, ideas and requirements.

MindWell is now at the centre of the emergency services mental health crisis info card carried by Police and other front line staff ensuring access and clear information, and a further 18 month schedule of content development is planned.

CAHPO Practice Innovator 2017

Winner: Dr Nick Woznitza, Homerton University Hospital and Canterbury Christ Church University

The initiative: Integrated radiographer reporting: streamlining patient pathways and creating diagnostic capacity.

The aim of the initiative was to maximise the contribution of advanced clinical practitioner radiographers within the diagnostic pathway for emergency care and lung cancer.  Nick’s PhD research confirmed that reporting radiographers are comparable to consultant radiologists in chest X-ray interpretation as regards diagnostic accuracy.  When making diagnostic decisions, clinicians use both radiologist and radiographer results in similar ways with no difference in outcome.  This research provides a strong platform on which to base practice. The significant variation in reporting times and backlogs across England can be minimised through the increased use of radiographer reporting.

CAHPO Workforce Transformation Leader 2017

Winner: Martin Fox, Pennine Acute Hospital Trust

The initiative: Improving awareness, diagnosis, treatment and outcomes for people with peripheral arterial disease: podiatry-led service redesign.

Four Podiatry-led peripheral arterial disease (PAD) service redesigns that raised awareness and easy access to local PAD diagnostic & treatment clinics were successfully piloted and commissioned, and are now being sustainably provided in four NHS Trusts around Greater Manchester.  Skilled and competent vascular-trained AHPs working in community settings are able to identify, explain, and tackle those symptoms associated with PAD early and proactively such limb pain, non-healing ulcers, associated heart attacks, strokes, early death and amputation.  These proven, redesigned, proactive AHP-led PAD service models are transferable to all 200+ CCGs / NHS Trusts in the UK.

CAHPO Overall Winner 2017

Winner: Dr Nick Woznitza, Homerton University Hospital and Canterbury Christ Church University