Stockport celebrates its award winning nurses

Stockport nurses have scooped four prestigious awards in the very first NHS event to honour the work they do in GP surgeries.

The special event, run by Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, was set up to celebrate the vital role practice nurses play in providing patients with the very best care.

One focus was on how practice nurses are innovatively using “social prescribing” to help patients, particularly those who are lonely and feel isolated.

Social prescribing is a different way of dealing with health problems and research has shown it massively improves a person’s well-being and consequently reduces their need for medication and doctor appointments

It includes setting up things like local walking and singing groups, creating community allotments for local people to look after and use, or running other befriending activities.

Alvanley Family Medical Practice, based in Woodley, is spearheading this sort of imaginative work and won the GM Nursing Team of the Year as a result.

The practice’s head nurse Katherine Parker also picked up the impressive title of Practice Nurse Innovator of the Year for leading the winning team with commitment and enthusiasm.

The judging panel said she showed imagination, wit and commitment in getting her patients the help they needed, involving the wider local community and leading her team by example.

Said Katherine “I’m delighted with the team award because the great work we’re doing here at Alvanley, really is a team effort. And that team is not just the nurses, it’s all the amazing staff here.

“Yes, we do things differently here but that’s because all the evidence shows it gets results – and doing the best for our patients is what it’s all about.

“As for my own award, I’m both humbled and very proud to receive it. It’ll just give me, and the team, even more reason to keep doing what we’re doing!”

Stockport also came up trumps with GM’s Rising Star, an award for nurses with less than two years’ experience in general practice. Kirsty Clouston, from The Family Surgery in Reddish, won this accolade.

And when it came to the Transforming Services Awards, to recognise key people or teams making change happen, Stockport’s General Practice Nursing Forum was honoured.

Anita Rolfe, Executive Nurse at NHS Stockport CCG and Chair of the GM Practice Nurse Forum, said: “Greater Manchester’s General Practice Nursing Awards are a great way to recognise the contribution nurses make.

“The work they do goes way beyond the excellent day to day care they give their patients. They’re also often at the forefront of the vital changes we’re making in region in bringing together health and social care.

“It’s quite right that we’ve shone the spotlight on them – they deserve our congratulations.”

Tina Long, Chief Nurse for GM Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “General practice nurses play a vital role in Greater Manchester’s health service. They are the first point of contact for many patients and undertake 70% of care for those with long term conditions. However, all too often they are the unsung heroes of primary care and we wanted to change that.”