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NHS Highland children's unit team receive award


By Gregor White

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Professor Boyd Robertson (centre) presents the award to April Emmott and the rest of the team.
Professor Boyd Robertson (centre) presents the award to April Emmott and the rest of the team.

The skills of staff within the Highland Children’s Unit was recently recognised with the presentation of a Highland Quality Approach award.

The unit, which is the only paediatric centre for the Highlands of Scotland, has been described as a ‘mini hospital within a hospital’ which continually adapts and changes to the needs of their patients ensuring teams are able to deliver care in the most efficient, high quality manner.

The nomination praises the unit for their focus "on the delivery of care, not only to our patients but (also) to their families", caring for "parents/guardians/carers just as much as the patients, if not more".

Using Value Management, a quality improvement initiative which looks at maximising value while achieving the best health outcomes at the lowest cost based on a patient’s condition, the team have been able to make changes to the service and processes and systems that they use to help in delivering a high standard of quality care.

The nomination praises the team for the complex care in the community packages they have developed where "a dedicated team of carers deliver a high standard of care for children and their families who require ventilation and parental nutrition via central lines", giving particular praise to April Emmott, senior nurse for paediatric services, calling her "the driving force for developing the fantastic community packages, teams and current service delivered" which has been heralded for reducing long admission periods for children with complex care needs.

The "large, dedicated, enthusiastic, motivated team" was surprised with its award by NHS Highland’s interim chairman, Professor Boyd Robertson, who attended the unit to present them with their award.

He said: "I greatly value the dedication, skills and commitment of our staff, and a major part of my role as interim chairman is to seek to ensure our staff feel valued. This award is recognition of the wonderful work they do here in the children’s unit. The staff go above and beyond to help patients and their families, and their efforts are hugely appreciated."

April Emmott, who accepted the award on behalf of the team, said: "I was exceptionally overwhelmed and surprised to receive this award on behalf of my amazing paediatric team – across acute, community and specialist settings and environments.

"The achievements and changes within paediatrics over the last decade has meant we have had to be an adaptable, developing and flexible service. The team work tirelessly with passion and commitment for the children and young people, and their families and we are delighted to be given the recognition for this. We will continue to strive for the optimum care and support for our children and families going forward."


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