QNPICU is a quality improvement network for psychiatric intensive care services in the UK. QNPICU adopts a multi-disciplinary approach to quality improvement, with a key component of their work being the sharing of best practice through the facilitation of peer-review visits.
Nash Ward is Cygnet Hospital Kewstoke’s 12 bed male PICU service. The hospital is located in the small village of Kewstoke overlooking Sand Bay, just outside of Weston-super-Mare. The aim of the service is to provide a short, rapid intervention to help people regain a sense of control and order in their lives, so they can move to a less restrictive care setting and return home.
In their most recent review the service met 92% of the 149 standards it was measured against. The feedback that was received from the peer review team found the following as particularly noteworthy areas of achievement:
- The team are proactive in their attempts to engage carers including a carers champion scheme by which the team contact carers weekly and provide an update on their loved one’s progress.
- Carers spoken to as part of the assessment highlighted how helpful and informative the staff team at Nash Ward are.
- The team effectively use the hospital’s environment, including 16 acres of grounds, to provide a quiet and therapeutic space for service users.
- The psychology team actively encourage service users to access fresh air when they need to and will facilitate walks on the nearby beach to achieve this. These beach walks positively impact both service users mental and physical health.
- The service proactively collects audit data on the use of restrictive practice in order to reduce the use of restrictive interventions, year on year.
Dr Sai Achuthan, Medical Director, said, “We strive to provide the best care for our service users throughout their stay and provide robust discharge plans. We are delighted that all the Nash Ward team’s hard work has paid off and the ward has been re-accredited with QNPICU for another three years. I would like to pay particular tribute to Dr Ewelina Dobrzynska, Consultant Psychiatrist and Joji John, Ward Manager, for taking the lead in this reaccreditation and providing a good level of clinical and managerial leadership.”
To find out more information about the service please visit the Nash Ward page.