Bronze Accreditation Award for Ward B1 at UHW

Clinicians on a cardiac ward at the University Hospital of Wales have become the first to receive a new award for their positive outcomes for both colleagues and patients.

Sue Tranka, the Chief Nursing Officer for Wales, presented ward B1 with a bronze award as part of a ward accreditation and improvement initiative (WAI). They came out on top ahead of more than 60 other inpatient wards across Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. 

The WAI framework aims to celebrate teams that have achieved great outcomes, in turn supporting them to make incremental improvements across a range of metrics. 

B1 was identified as a ward that performed well across a variety of different areas, including its internal audits, live monitoring of staffing levels, patient acuity, staff surveys and patient feedback.  

It was visited several times by the ward accreditation team so they could speak to patients and observe care standards. 

B1 ward sister Mariamma Mathew said: “We’re absolutely delighted to have received this bronze award for our ward accreditation and improvement. Our team are overwhelmed and incredibly proud on being recognised which has been the result of months of hard work to reach at this level. 

“Of course, much of our approach came from our lead and senior nurses and the lead administrative team of Patient Safety and Quality by working collaboratively among us and we genuinely could not have achieved this if we did not all work towards the same goal.” 

The review of more 60 wards considered what insights could be gained from their use of: 

• Tendable (ward audit) 

• SafeCare (live nurse staffing levels/patient acuity) 

• HealthRoster 

• CIVICA (patient feedback) 

• Staff Surveys 

• RLDatix 

To test the WAI framework and the validity of awarding bronze, the performance of B1 was measured against a number of NHS England frameworks including Salford, Gateshead, Lincolnshire and University College London Hospitals. 

Teams across inpatient wards in Cardiff and Vale University Health Board will now be able to work towards bronze, silver or gold accreditation. 

As data and insights from other digital systems become available, they will also be integrated within the WAI framework. Upcoming examples include Welsh Nursing Care Record (WNCR) and Electronic Prescribing & Medicines Administration (ePMA). 

Over the coming weeks, the ward accreditation team will be meeting with teams and setting out the opportunity to engage with this initiative.