The Burdett Trust for Nursing enables nurse-led innovation projects at Chelsea and Westminster

In a first of its kind partnership, a generous grant from the Burdett Trust for Nursing will create a unique Nursing Innovation Fellow position, to lead on innovative projects at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (CWFT). The award and the new post will support CW Innovation, a joint project run by CWFT and its official charity CW+, to specifically spearhead nurse, midwife and allied health professional-led projects which will make a marked difference to the way patients are treated at the Trust’s hospitals and clinics.

The new Nursing Innovation Fellow will work closely with the CWFT senior nursing team and the CW Innovation team, while building a cohort of outstanding clinical innovators and initiatives.

Launched 12 months ago, CW Innovation has formed collaborations with some 70 companies and service organisations, from technology start-ups to international blue-chips.

“This generous support and unique partnership will enable a step-change in new initiatives led by nurses, midwives and allied health professionals at our hospitals.” said CW+ CEO Chris Chaney. “CW Innovation has made a marked difference to our hospitals in the year since its inception, with many innovations fast-tracked during the COVID-19 pandemic and now routinely in use. Working with a core innovation group, we are proud to have developed and delivered a diverse portfolio of staff-led programmes; this new partnership now enables us to enhance the reach and impact of this approach by creating and accelerating specific nurse-led innovations.”

The award and position were announced today, Wednesday 9 September at the CW+ fourth annual Nurses’ Innovation Call, in which nurses, midwives and allied health professionals apply for a grant to fund a improvement project of their creation, in a Dragons’ Den style competition.  This year, physiotherapy exercise prescription app, Hand Therapy was announced as the winner in an awards ceremony hosted virtually by CW+, with a judging panel consisting of members from NHS England, the Rosetrees Trust, Chris Chaney and CWFT Chief Nurse Pippa Nightingale. The Nurses’ Call prioritises innovation, transformation and improving quality of care for patients.

“The Nursing Innovation Fellow position tallies with the Burdett Trust for Nursing ethos to empower nurses and nurse-led projects,” said The Burdett Trust for Nursing Trustee Dame Christine Beasley.  “Since 2002 we have specifically targeted our grants at projects that are nurse-led, and that enable nurses to make significant improvements to the patient care environment.

“When we looked at CW Innovation, its philosophy and aims were an excellent match with our own to form this partnership. With nurses,  midwives and allied health professionals making up the majority of the healthcare workforce, we were delighted that the Nursing Innovation Fellow will have the opportunity to make a difference by creating and leading innovative projects at a prestigious hospital trust.”

Nurse-led innovation projects are already encouraged and play an important role at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.  Stroke specialist nurse Ahlam Wynne’s oral care project, designed to prevent pneumonia in stroke patients, was recently nominated for an HSJ Award, and has been rolled out for use across other hospital wards.  

“We are hugely grateful to the Burdett Trust for Nursing for enabling this important partnership and helping us create the post of Nursing Innovation Fellow at the Trust which will help us continue to deliver nursing led quality improvement to improve the care and experience of our patients,”  said CWFT Chief Nurse Pippa Nightingale. “We are incredibly proud of our diverse and creative nursing workforce, which is constantly encouraged to seek out and invent innovative solutions, which may then be implemented in a ward environment.

“This year has been named by WHO as the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, and particularly  in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact made by our nurses has made a lasting imprint on the work of the NHS. The Nursing Innovation Fellow position propels our nursing community to a whole new level, enabling whoever is appointed to make their mark as part of our CW Innovation programme.”

For information on the Nursing Innovation Fellow position, and how to apply, please follow the updates on our website:  www.cwplus.org.uk

For more details, photos and interviews with spokespersons from the Burdett Trust for Nursing or CW Innovation, please contact:

CW+ Head of Comms: Raine Marcus  Email: raine.marcus@cwplus.org.uk  Mobile: +44 (0)7950 462690

 About The Burdett Trust for Nursing

The Burdett Trust for Nursing is an independent charitable trust named after philanthropist and hospital reformer, Sir Henry Burdett KCB, who took an active interest in the development of the nursing profession and who founded the Royal National Pension Fund for Nurses (RNPFN). Set up in 2002 in recognition of the foundation, philosophy and structure of the RNPFN,  the Trust makes grants in support of nurse-led projects, using its funds to empower nurses and make significant improvements to the patient care environment.

About CW Innovation

The CW Innovation programme, led by Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and its charity CW+, identifies and delivers high-impact innovation initiatives and solutions that improve patient care and address some of the real-time challenges that healthcare organisations face today. It provides a test bed for the development and implementation of scalable and sustainable initiatives and technologies that support the delivery of better patient-centred, more responsive and cost-effective care.

CW Innovation uniquely combines an internal team of dedicated innovation business managers, leading partner organisations, the support of an external Innovation Advisory Board, and a forward-thinking workforce to make our hospitals ‘smarter’ and bring the future into the now. The programme has a proven track record as an early adopter and designer of next-generation services and care tools, an expanding portfolio of innovation projects and a growing reputation as an emerging leader in this field. A Global Digital Exemplar, CW Innovation is a founding partner of the DigitalHealth.London Accelerator.

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