Posted on: 17 September 2024
CNWL’s cultural framework SCARF has taken home a gong at this year’s HSJ Patient Safety Awards. The team celebrated their win at an award ceremony last night in Manchester, under the ‘Developing a Positive Safety Culture’ category.
An acronym for Safe, Compassionate, Accountable, Reflective and Fair (SCARF), the framework has helped to improve patient safety at CNWL by enabling a range of programmes including human factors, incident response systems and quality improvement. The approach has taken a range of initiatives from leading organisations and national strategies, adapted them and made them uniquely CNWL.
The judging panel recognised this initiative for its comprehensive approach, supported by strong evidence of and a real focus on cultural transformation and patient involvement. The ambition, combined with data-driven outcomes and widespread impact impressed the judges.
Syena Skinner, Associate Director of Recovery, Inclusion and Learning and Catherine Knights, Director of Quality said:
“We are really proud and delighted to win this award. We have demonstrated how building a SCARF culture and behaviours have enabled and amplified a range of initiatives to help improve patient safety at CNWL. Our SCARF behaviours align with the pledge in CNWL’s Safety Strategy “we will work in a safe and fair culture” and winning this award is a recognition that we are heading in the right direction!”
Six other teams and projects were finalists at the awards, with the Carers at Work Network runners up in the ‘Staff Wellbeing Initiative of the Year’ category, receiving a highly commended award.
CNWL’s Carers at Work staff network supports over 400 working carers and their managers to keep well, remain in paid employment, and balance caring and work responsibilities. The network has a range of tools to support staff including a Carer’s Passport, workshops as well as a digital offer.
Sarah Hulme and Sian Aylett, Co-Chairs of the Carers at Work Network said:
‘’We are delighted that the work of our Carers at Work staff network has been recognised with this award. This is a testament to the hard work of the committee and all the managers within the organisation who contribute to improving our staff carers’ working lives.”
Tom Shearer, Chief Finance Officer and Executive Sponsor for the Network said:
“A huge congratulations to our Carers at Work Network for this well-deserved award, and to all our staff and managers who have embraced the programme of work to improve the working lives of carers within our organisation. I’d also like say a massive thank you to Sian and Sarah who have led this work brilliantly with huge enthusiasm and dedication.”
Amazing achievement from our staff, we’re so proud of them!
We were joined at the ceremony by the Harrow Home Treatment team, the team from Shore Ward based at Park Royal Hospital, as well as team members from the Intermediate Community bed Escalation (ICE) Hub who also made it to the final shortlist. You can read more about the CNWL teams and projects that were nominated here.
The awards programme, designed to encourage and drive improvements in culture and quality across the NHS, was hosted by comedian and TV presenter, Zoe Lyons, who compered the proceedings for an audience of more than 1,000 healthcare workers.
Over 400 entries were received for the 2024 HSJ Patient Safety Awards, with 206 organisations, projects and individuals making it to the final shortlist, having gone through two rounds of rigorous judging,
Speaking at the event, Editor of the Health Service Journal, Alastair McLellan said:
“This has been the most competitive Patient Safety Awards to date. Across all categories the entries have flooded in, producing the strongest shortlist in the events history.”