The Burrows - Clinical Team of the Year | Our latest updates

The Burrows - Clinical Team of the Year

The Burrows Quality Award Clinical Team of the Year

In November, our Quality Awards 2024 celebrated people across NHFT who are making a difference to patients, service users and carers every single day. 

A huge congratulations to the winners, those who were highly commended, and everyone who was nominated.

Following on from the awards, we're taking a closer look at some of the winners and asking them to tell us more about their roles and find out why they were nominated.  

 

Winning a Quality Award was the "ultimate feedback" according to the team at The Burrows who took home one of the biggest awards on the night.

In what's been a challenging year for the team, being named 'Clinical Team of the Year' at the NHFT Quality Awards was, as ward matron Sinead Fay and Sharon Mallon from The Burrows described: "a lovely moment for the whole team."

The Burrows supports young people, usually aged between 13 and 18, with a range of complex mental health conditions. They have 10 inpatient beds and offer stays averaging 14-24 weeks.

The diverse team - made up of nurses, doctors, psychologists, healthcare assistants, family therapists, activity coordinators, administrators, social workers, occupational therapists, dietitians and education specialists - treats young people in crisis who often need 24-hour intervention.

Patients will be referred to The Burrows with issues such as anxiety, depression, or eating disorders, which are unable to be managed in the community.  Many patients continue to visit home during their stay, but some - depending on the severity of their condition - may be detained under the Mental Health Act.

Sinead (pictured holding the certificate with the team) said the Quality Award recognised how good the team is at supporting patients with more complex needs.

"We view each patient as a young person and a unique individual," said Sinead, "We then try to mould care to their specific needs, which does mean that we have got a very good success rate with complex patients."

Because many of the young inpatients will inevitably miss school while they recover at The Burrows, education is provided on site, and staff will liaise with each patient's school to ensure they continue to learn while they get better. This will also be accompanied by a "therapeutic timetable" with activities such as yoga, animal therapy, cooking, or other social activities.

Some young people may come from backgrounds where they don't have the opportunity to gain independence skills, and so this is also offered at The Burrows from making beds, baking, using the washing machine, learning how to use transport and any other self help skills.  

Sinead said that the Covid pandemic had exacerbated challenges for young people, particularly the isolation and lack of social interaction during lockdowns, but also because as children weren't in schools, they perhaps didn't have the professional oversight that could have identified any challenges, changes, or issues in children.

"We're proud that we never say 'no' to a patient," said Sinead, "we want to keep that child's care as close to their home as possible. In one particular case, there were 11 or 12 hospitals that said 'no' to taking a patient on, but we said 'yes'. And whilst it was one of the hardest times for the ward in terms of the intensive support required, we were determined to do everything we could. This also meant it was important to support our staff through this."

Sinead said manager presence on the ward is important to staff, and making sure that there is time to debrief and come together as a team to reflect on challenges. The team also works closely with families: "When we take on a child, we take on their family too, and work very closely with them," Sinead said.

The team have had great feedback from patients and their families, as well as NHFT Executives, including a visit from the Chief Executive Angela Hillery.

Referring to the Quality Award win, Sinead said: "As a manager you always feel your team deserves recognition, but it was amazing when we were announced as winners, on the night, to look around the table and see everybody's face light up. This is why we do it."

Sharon said: "It's a team effort; we all have a part to play. It's a really well-led team, Sinead does everything to support us."

The team said it strives to support patients in exactly the same way they would want their own families to be cared for. "Yes, it can be challenging - physically and emotionally," said Sinead, "but you need to understand why this young person is here so we can help them. So, when we won the award, it was definitely a case of 'well done guys, this is well-deserved'!"

Going forward, Sinead said she hopes The Burrows can continue to do what they do well, and nurture its open, honest, kind and compassionate culture that's making such a positive impact.

"We want to make a difference to each patient, Sinead said, We're open to any challenge and, we know it will be tough sometimes, but we all believe, yes, we can do it."

Find out more about The Burrows at on the NHFT website.

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