An idea from a young staff nurse at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has proved so successful that she has won a national award, inspiring interest from her own colleagues and across the UK.
Hayleigh Bloomfield, who works in the neurology department at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, has created a pain management protocol for patients living with Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
Hayleigh, 27, who is originally from Helensburgh but now lives in Glasgow, works on Ward 53 – a short stay unit providing care for patients with a range of neurological conditions.
Hayleigh explained: “Patients come here once they’ve been through the acute phase of their condition. We’re a maintenance ward, helping patients to live with their conditions.
“My particular interest is in MND, and some of our patients have tubes in their stomach to help with feeding, fluid intake and medications.
“Last year I started noticing patients struggling with pain post insertion of the tube and I wanted to find something to allow me to help.
“A proper protocol didn’t exist on paper – it was more advice passed down among staff – so I went to my manager and suggested we should do something about that.
“They said I should go ahead and see what I could do. So I did!”
Hayleigh worked with fellow nurses, doctors and pharmacy teams and the result is a new written protocol, which has been adopted on HEPMA – NHS Scotland’s digital tool for prescribing and managing medicines within hospital environments.
The protocol is currently undergoing an audit process, seeking the views of patients who received care before the new protocol and those receiving support under the new arrangements.
But while that process is ongoing, Hayleigh didn’t stop there. She has created a poster to explain the process of developing the new protocol, the reasons for the audit, and to explain to patients the importance of the work being undertaken.
And when it was complete, Senior Charge NurseVicky Garnersuggested that Hayleigh present it as part of the Best Poster Presentation competition at the British Association of Neuroscience Nurses (BANN) conference.
So, in October Hayleigh, Charge NurseJade Walker and colleagues travelled to Newcastle, where Hayleigh presented the poster and the protocol to more than 100 experts and colleagues from around the UK.
Hayleigh’s work attracted huge interest – in fact Jade recalls seeing “lots of nods and excited chit-chat” during the presentation – and went on to win Best Poster Presentation.
When they got back to Glasgow, Hayleigh presented the idea to colleagues at a best practice event run by NHSGGC’s Regional Services directorate, which includes Neurology.
Hayleigh recalls: “It really caused a stir, and people saw considerable potential benefits for services beyond what we’ve originally planned it for.”
After the presentation, Jade began receiving emails and calls from colleagues. “They were saying ‘that was really interesting and we’d like to take a closer look – can you please share your information?’.”
Jade, who is now Clinical Educator for Neurology, added: “It’s too early to say for sure, but the approaches from other wards and from other parts of the country, suggest the applications for this approach may stretch beyond the Neurology department, and even well beyond NHSGGC.
“I’m so chuffed for Hayleigh. It’s been great to see her take the initiative like this, and we’re all really proud of how well she presented at the conference – and the way she acted as such a great ambassador for the ward, and for NHSGGC.”
Hayleigh is hoping to go back to the next Regional Services best practice event next year with full results of the audit, so next steps and wider uses may depend on how that presentation is received.
In the meantime, she is just feeling very proud: “It’s nice for everyone in Neurology to have some really positive news to share.
“I hope I’ve inspired other nurses to have confidence in their own ideas, and to just go and do what they feel is right.
“It think it’s really positive for the ward – I mean, we provide care for so many conditions here. If each member of staff took just one each, imagine how much that would improve things for our patients!”
Susan Groom, Director of Regional Services at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “We would like to congratulate Hayleigh for her success at the BANN conference, and for her initiative and determination in bringing this new protocol to fruition.
“Here at NHSGGC we are committed to creating an atmosphere of continuous improvement among all our staff, and we always encourage ideas and wider participation from colleagues.
“This isn’t the first win we’ve had at the BANN conference, so it seems previous successes are beginning to rub off on our staff.
“I’d like to thank Hayleigh, her managers and all her colleagues for their work on this new protocol, and I hope, as Hayleigh says, it inspires others in her team and across NHSGGC to have the confidence to act on their good ideas.”
