A short film to promote diabetic education and lifestyle changes has received funding from this year’s Insurance Corporation Healthcare Bursary. The film, which will be available on DVD and online, will be a valuable information resource and will play an important role in educating and assisting to combat the growing number of new cases of Type 2 Diabetes in the Bailiwick.
The annual competition, which will be celebrating its 25th anniversary next year, is open to staff members of HSSD who submit ideas to improve health or social care in the islands.
This year’s winning projects were announced at a special luncheon for entrants and previous winners.
The winners of the £2,000 top prize were Clinical Lead Dietitian Myfanwy Datta, Specialist Dietitian Rhona Hume, and Consultant Nurse Specialists Ann Kinch and Alison Place.
Michelle Arundale of Insurance Corporation and a bursary judge said:
“The judging day is always one of the highlights of the year as we are always incredibly impressed with the commitment shown by the entrants and the variety of projects. It was another challenging day to choose a winner and runner up. We believe this DVD will be an important reference point for patients and caregivers of those with Type 2 Diabetes within the Bailiwick and hold dietary advice to help enable people to avoid this condition and its associated risks. We learnt that not everyone in the Bailiwick with Type 2 Diabetes is able to attend the diabetes educational group sessions and therefore, this DVD will be made available online to enable everyone to access the information they require in the comfort of their own home.”
The runner-up prize of £1,000 was awarded to Tobin Cook and Cathy Rirsch from the Office of Environmental Health and Pollution Regulation who proposed a research project investigating the exposure levels of children to air pollution on walk routes to schools. The prize money would be used to buy a dose meter and other equipment, which will help monitor levels on the routes to 19 primary schools across the Bailiwick. The judges agreed that this entry made an extremely valuable contribution to the health and well-being of Bailiwick children.
Mr Ed Freestone Chief Pharmacist and Assistant Director at HSSD said:
“On behalf of HSSD I am delighted to extend my sincere thanks to Insurance Corporation who once again this year, continue to support our initiatives and the health and wellbeing of our community with this bursary initiative. As one of the judges on the panel I think we would all say that the finalists brought some very persuasive ideas and high quality presentations. I would like to thank those HSSD staff too. Many will have worked on these bursary applications in their own time, to come up with ideas that would benefit patients and service users. Again, this year it has been a great partnership and I look forward to seeing these projects come to life thanks again to Insurance Corporation.”
Nine entries were received from across HSSD, which were then shortlisted to five. Each of the entrants presented their project to a judging panel.
The other shortlisted entries were as follows:
HOME FROM HOSPITAL VOLUNTEER VISITING SCHEME
Alex Dufour and Charlotte Carr in partnership with Health Information Guernsey and Age Concern Guernsey
The project is a volunteer visitor scheme for older adults with a target audience of the over 65s who are discharged from hospital with ‘low level care needs’. Those assessed as likely to benefit from the scheme will be offered a voluntary visitor for up to the first six weeks upon discharge. The primary aim will be to reduce social isolation by facilitating social re-enablement while recovering from hospital stay. Furthermore the volunteers can provide a point of contact between the healthcare setting and the community. In addition, the volunteers will provide a link at the end of the six weeks to other services in the community such as those offered by Age Concern Guernsey while partnering HSSD. There are multi-faceted benefits of volunteer visiting to HSSD. Economically, there is evidence to suggest that volunteer visiting can reduce re-admission to hospital and assist in ensuring that care packages are used in the correct way. This is a preventative model of care, which has been proven to save money long term.
THE ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A MOBILE APP FOR PEOPLE WITH PERSISTENT PAIN
Damien Appleton, Katie Basset, Martin Lock, Yaroslav Stefak from the Chronic Pain Team at PEH
Each year the Chronic Pain Team receives 0ver 1000 referrals. One of the evidence-based interventions is to provide patients with self-management skills to enable patients to cope and thrive in spite of their persistent pain. Currently demand for this type of service far exceeds capacity. Recently a novel form of self-management has been developed in the form of the Pain Toolkit mobile app, which provides information on exercises, pacing and psychological strategies to maximise patients functioning. In addition it collects data on patient’s activities and psychological functioning which are electronically sent to their clinician allowing remote monitoring of progress and alerting the clinician to possible difficulties. Therefore more patients than before can benefit from self-management.
ACCESSIBLE WEBSITE FOR PEOPLE WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES
Nina Heckelmann and Kristianne Stewart
The project is for the development of an accessible website for people with learning disabilities to access information about adult disability services. The aims are two-fold: to improve the quality and ease of information for the group and empower and involve service-users in a service development project. To set this up the project requires funding for an easy-read video website together with multi-media (camera). In addition the project would require bank staff hours to set up working in partnership with a group of service users. The project will link with the 2020 vision and the Disability Inclusion Strategy that enables people to live healthy and independent lives.
The Deputy Bailiff Richard McMahon said:
“It’s wonderful to know that the support of ICCI is such that you can put these ideas into fruition. It speaks volumes that it’s not just about the treatment that can be given, but also the information that can be provided to nip any problem in the bud, and encourage healthy lifestyles for islanders. We extend our thanks to Peter and the ICCI staff, and look forward to seeing next year what lengths the worthy winners have taken to develop their projects.”
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