Current Florence Nightingale Foundation Aspiring Nurse/Midwife Director Scholar Colette Datt wins Child and Adolescent Service Award at Nursing Times Awards 2019. Congratulations to Colette for winning and Sinead Doherty from NHS70 Leadership Programme for being a finalist for the Rising Star Award.
Editor of the Nursing Times, Steve Ford, said:
“The Nursing Times Awards showcase the innovation and best practice of nurses and midwives up and down the country, which I hope will be shared widely to improve care. The awards represent a great opportunity to celebrate all that is good about the nursing profession and I would like to personally congratulate all our winners and finalists.
“Hearing about the ground-breaking work being done by nurses around the UK to improve patient care never ceases to amaze me. This is especially true at the moment given the workforce pressures that nursing staff are under in many places.
“Our awards come just a couple months before the start of the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife in 2020, which represents another huge opportunity to promote the great work of nursing staff everywhere.”
Asthma is the most common long-term condition in children and young people. It sadly still causes fatalities in children and also causes high rates of school absenteeism. In 2015 there were 19 CYP asthma deaths identified by NRAD (Royal College of Physicians, 2015). Yet it is suggested that 90% of asthma deaths and 75% of Emergency Department attendance for asthma can be avoided (Asthma UK, 2017).
Children and Young People spend the equivalent of 190 days a year in school and on average there are 3 children with asthma in each classroom of 30. Thus, any strategic approach to improving asthma outcomes must include schools as a key stakeholder. The Asthma Friendly schools project was co-designed and co-delivered, with cross-sector collaboration from a multi-professional working group encompassing schools, health care, local authority commissioning, CYP and parents. The Asthma Friendly Schools project has enabled 80% of Islington schools to meet 5 key asthma-friendly school standards with 100% of these schools receiving asthma training. Islington schools now have doubled the national average of asthma plans available in schools and these schools have seen a statistically significant reduction of days of school due to illness from this project. Most significantly this
Colette Datt (Nurse Consultant CYP) who initiated and led this project and Karen Rodesano (Asthma Schools Nurse) who delivered the asthma-friendly schools project in schools said:
‘We started this project because 75% of young people told us they needed more support with their asthma in school.’ They highlight some feedback from young people: ‘It has helped me have a better knowledge in how to manage my asthma’ Malachi, 16; ‘I now understand my asthma better’ Shakir, 17; ‘I was given many tips on how to control my asthma’ Sahil, 15 ‘Now the GP and school have checked my asthma’ Emre, 16; ‘I didn’t know, I needed to use a preventer’ Sahil, 15.
Please see Colette’s Nursing Times leaflet here.
Please see Nursing Times Awards 2019 photos here.