• IV Nursing at Home Team, Enhanced Care and Support Team, and Theatres nursing team shortlisted
• All teams recognised for their patient-focused approach and incredible commitment
• Nursing Times awards shine a light on the brightest talent in the profession

Staff at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust have been shortlisted for three national awards for their work helping patients.

Bolton’s Intravenous (IV) Nursing at Home Team, the Enhanced Care and Support Team, and Theatres’ nursing one-stop surgical clinic have each been shortlisted for Nursing Times awards.

The IV Nursing at Home team have been shortlisted for the Nursing in the Community award for their work in developing a new way of looking after patients to help them stay at home for their IV antibiotic treatment and avoid unnecessary hospital stays.

Pioneering the use of a specialised 24-hour medication pump in patients’ homes has meant significantly more patients can be treated in the community, freeing up hospital bed space, with patient experience vastly improved and efficiency savings made on drug and hospital inpatient stay costs.

Feedback from patients includes:

• “This was the light in my dark pathway.”
• “All the team were really, really friendly and the care was amazing.”
• “The support was fantastic. I am pleased I am better and the treatment has been successful, but I really miss the team.”

The team can trace its roots back to 1995 and have been trailblazers ever since, being the first team in the country to administer blood transfusions at home 27 years ago and to date remain one of the few teams who deliver transfusions in patients’ homes.

Rebecca Bradley, Assistant Divisional Nurse Director for Integrated Community Services at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said:

Our IV Nursing at Home Team truly place each and every patient at the heart of their care and I am so proud that their work has been recognised nationally in the Nursing Times awards.

“The team wanted to enable patients to receive their entire treatment plan in their own home environment, which would bring a vast array of benefits such as reduced risk of developing infection, being able to access their home comforts and be close to friends and family.

“Introducing the use of a 24-hour pump has helped improve the lives and care of patients throughout Bolton and highlights their brilliantly innovative approach to caring for people.

Bolton’s Enhanced Care and Support Team have been shortlisted for the Patient Safety Improvement award for their work providing person-centred care by providing additional care support for some of Royal Bolton Hospital’s most vulnerable patients, such as those with dementia.

Following their launch in early 2022, the team identified ways to improve the management of unpredictable behaviour in patients, where there are often limited specialist recourses and a lack of time to supervise those who require additional support.

The team has seen reduction in violence and aggression incidents by more than 65% (during core hours), with feedback including:

• A wife whose husband quickly deteriorated with dementia: “My heartfelt thanks go out to you all in the team for all the care and kindness you gave to my darling husband. I don’t know what I would have don’t without you all. God bless you all and keep doing what you are doing – you are all angels.”
• An Endoscopy Nurse thanked the team for calming a patient down and “staying for the procedure. Had they not been there, I do not believe we would have been able to complete it.”

Martina Kingscott, Assistant Director of Nursing for Patient Safety and Quality at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said:

Our ambition as a Trust is to always focus on each patient, and how what we do affects them and their recovery.

“Our Enhanced Care and Support Team truly personify this and were set up, following the realisation that models of enhanced care do not currently exist in the UK, specifically to ensure some of our most vulnerable patients receive the care they deserve.

“Taking this step was not only necessary but also pioneering and I am so happy for the team that their hard work is being recognised at a national level.

The winners of the Nursing Times awards will be announced at a ceremony in London on Wednesday 25 October.

Join Bolton’s team, or find out more about working at Bolton, via its jobs page.