Macmillan values based standard

Hello Everyone

My name is Margaret,

I would like to share some work that our Breast Team have been working on and the improvements that have been made to date following on from the Macmillan Values Based Standard ‘Way Forward’ Event.

The event identified five areas that we are focussing on to make changes and improvements:

1. Environment - a patient commented, “I had to walk through a busy waiting area after being given bad news.... I was visibly upset and it was difficult to walk past the other patients waiting to be seen”.

We reviewed the clinic layout with the Outpatient Manager and have now swapped consultation rooms with other specialty services so that our patients, their families and carers can leave the clinic area without having to pass through a public waiting area.

2. Time - the nursing staff identified that clinics often overrun the scheduled finish time which was an issue for both patients and staff.

We reviewed the start and finish times of the clinic and have changed the shift pattern for nursing staff to ensure that a Cancer Nurse Specialist will always be available. We have also reviewed our communication, information and education to help address this.

3. Communication - patients told us that they didn’t realise how long their visit to the clinic could be.

We have reviewed and revised the leaflet we give to patients before they come to the clinic so that they know what to expect.

4. Information - patients told us that we were giving them too much information at the time of diagnosis that was not relevant to them.

It is important that we provide all relevant information so that people are able to consider treatment options and make decisions about their treatment with the healthcare team. We have reviewed the information we give and when we give it. We will now focus on providing small amounts of information for patients, carers and families, ensuring the information is individualised and given at the right time.

5. Education - staff told us that they felt we could improve the service we provide through additional training to enhance the clinical skills of some staff.

We worked with our Organisational Development Department to review the role of the Clinical Support Workers in the clinic. We identified additional training that could extend their role, enabling them to support the other staff and contribute to improved patient care and experience in the clinic.

We have introduced a rigorous training programme for Clinical Support Workers who want to enhance their skills. This enables them to carry out additional clinical duties such as removing wound drains. This means the breast nurse specialists have more time to take the patient with their family and carers to the quiet room and give improved support in a relaxed non-clinical environment without interruption.

The next steps for us will be to monitor, refine and sustain the improvements we’ve made. We’ll us various methods to do this including listening to feedback from our patients, carers and staff.

Applying the framework from Macmillan Values Based Standards has demonstrated that ‘The tiny little things’ can make a significant impact with no added resources.

The recent Haematology Way Forward Event identified similar areas for improvement and we will continue to provide updates on our progress over the coming months.

If you would like to know more about Macmillan Values Based Standards please get in touch with me on:

Tel No - 01236 712529

If you have an experience of cancer services that you would like to share please speak to a member of staff, respond on patient Opinion, or visit “Your feedback” Section of the NHS Lanarkshire website to see the other ways to get in touch www.nhslanarkshire.org.uk

Kind regards

Margaret