Safewards

This event was presented and facilitated by a broad range of staff of differing experience and backgrounds as well by individuals with lived experience to ensure all perspectives and personal experiences were considered.     

Some of the main topics covered were: 

• Why re-introducing Safewards at NSFT is important
• An overview of the structure of the collaborative
• The Safewards Model and the evidence base
• An overview of the ten key Safewards interventions
• Bespoke idea generation to re-establish and embed the interventions onto the wards
• Understanding how we will be using QI in this collaborative
• How to record and measure change idea implementation using QI methodology
• Next steps and expectations for each ward

The importance of working in collaboration with service users, their families and carers in the process of embedding the ten key Safewards interventions onto our wards was a primary focus of our second in-person Safewards session on Wednesday on 21 September 2023.  

Some of the main topics covered were:

• The positive impact Safewards can have on people with lived experience
• Presentations from five wards sharing their progress so far
• The different facilitators and barriers faced so far when attempting to implement Safewards on our wards
• Idea generation on how to overcome some of the barriers
• How to use the LifeQI platform to record our change ideas
• The different methods of measuring our improvement efforts (e.g. photos, guidance packs, physical items, documented experiences, posters etc.)
• The Safewards Challenge – working together to give your Safewards intervention the best hope of success (otherwise known as: protect your chocolate egg from breaking!)
• Conclusions, next steps and expectations for each ward

This sessions primary focus was to make sure that our teams understood the importance of Safewards, by getting each attendee at the session to consider the treatment they'd want/expect for a loved one recieving care at one of our wards and how the Safewards standards would support these standards being met. 

Some of the main topics covered included: 

• Reflecting on session two
• Hearing a powerful poem written by one of our service users
• Considering our expecations if we had a loved one receiving care and how Safewards would support this
• Presentations from wards sharing their progress
• Embedding trauma informed care into Safewards
• Conclusions and next steps

  As NSFT’s trust-wide Safewards Collaborative has progressed, the Safewards project team has been developing the agenda for each of the monthly sessions by reflecting on the feedback and requests given by the attendees at the previous session.

The most recent feedback provided to the team stated a common obstacle was “getting the rest on the ward engaged with Safewards” and so, Session 4 of the Collaborative, focused on how to lead and motivate others.

Topics for session 4 included: 

• Getting others on board with change
• Extending the collaborative
• Reviewing evidence so far

 Being the last in-person session of 2023, it was the perfect opportunity to pause and reflect on what has been achieved by each of our participating wards so far. As such, in addition to the next cohort of wards sharing their progress since starting the Collaborative, a large portion of this session was dedicated to giving our wards the chance to share some of the qualitative evidence (posters, photos, artwork, surveys, stories, etc.) that they have gathered so far.

Topics of the session included: 

• Reflecting on the journey so far
• What more can be done to embed the ten key interventions
• What the future of the Safewards collaborative looks like

  As we have come to expect from our attendees, the discussion and idea generation during the session was truly excellent, and the passion and desire to always do what is best for those under our care was evident throughout.

This session included:

• A review of the collaborative roadmap
• How to increase service user engagement
• Some of the benefits experts by experience have experienced since joining the collaborative
• Recap of the essential tools used across QI projects
• How to increase colleague engagement

Session 7 of the Safewards Collaborative took place on 7 March, and primarily focussed on what we can learn from each other in regard to the different ways of embedding the ten key Safewards interventions on our wards.   

The session began by getting the attendees to take a closer look at two of the interventions that are more difficult to tangibly evidence bad news mitigation and reassurance.

Topics of the session included:

• Wards shared their progress
• Knowledge and idea sharing 

Since the initiation of the Safewards Collaborative at NSFT in August of last year, the core Safewards team have endeavoured to tailor each of the in-person sessions based on the feedback provided by the attendees.

Two areas of difficulty that are frequently raised within this feedback are:

1. Promoting awareness of what Safewards is on our wards
2. Finding the time to implement changes relating to Safewards

As such, Session 8 of the Safewards Collaborative, focused on these two topic.

Session 9 primarily focussed on ensuring a solid foundation is established so we can be certain that all the fantastic work our teams have produced across each of the ten key Safewards interventions continues on our wards, even after the collaborative’s official end date.

The next part of the session focussed on the promotion and communication of Safewards. 

The main topic of the session was presented by one of our Directors of Nursing, Belinda Danso-Langley, who addressed how NSFT will be adopting a range of formal assurance processes to ensure the wonderful changes that have been introduced as part of this collaborative remain embedded after the in-person collaborative sessions come to a close.  In addition, a Safewards Assurance Group is in the process of being assembled to ensure the Safewards interventions remain embedded across our Trust. 

Knowing that it is the staff who work on our wards that are best positioned to know what methods are most likely to work to embed these interventions in their areas, the bulk of the session was dedicated to an interactive activity asking the attendees for their ideas on how they think Safewards can be sustained at different levels. The Safewards champions were divided into groups and asked to discuss what they can do going forwards as 1. Individuals 2. Teams 3. Care Groups 4. An entire organisation, to ensure Safewards stays embedded.

A huge array of insightful ideas were generated before being anonymously presented live in a digital format to the group. This was followed by an opportunity for everyone to vote of the ideas they believed would be most impactful.

The eleventh and final in-person Safewards session took place on Thursday 22 August.  It was wonderful to see that so many of our passionate Safewards Leads and people with lived experience were able to attend this crucial session and take the chance to reflect and celebrate their incredible efforts and achievements.

It was also excellent to see several senior members of staff in attendance who also wanted to be there to congratulate the group in person and express how much their hard work has been valued.

The session began with an opportunity for the wards to view and reflect on the brilliant events they each hosted on 10 July for International Safewards Day.  Sophie Bagge, Lived Experience Lead for Models of Care and Models of Care+, who facilitated the session, expressed her heartfelt thanks to the wards for the fantastic efforts they had each gone to, and commented that the success of the events was above and beyond