Congratulations to Broxtowe Day Service, Nottingham West PCN and the University of Derby who have become a Notts County Council Celebrating Success finalist. These organisations have come together, working in partnership, to offer trainee nurse associates (TNAs) from Nottingham West PCN placements working with people with disabilities in a strengths-based way.
Following on from the success of the recent learning disabilities health and wellbeing roadshows – which supported people with disabilities to better understand what happens at NHS health check appointments; a bond was struck between the day service management team and the primary care network.
The Broxtowe team recognised they could support health colleagues on their learning journey to understand how working with people with disabilities in a strengths-based way can be so beneficial, particularly in relation to effective communication. This is when the TNA pilot was born, with Broxtowe Day service being the first to offer placements for health colleagues.
People training to become Nurse Associates were identified as the ideal candidates to take part in a pilot of a series of three-week placements. Although the pilot is still very much in progress it is easy to see that with social care holding a much higher status in the world of nursing, the shared goal of seeing “gold standard communication and relationship building being role modelled, with people with a range of complex needs, levels of understanding and comprehension” for the trainees.
Once evaluated in the new year, it is hoped that the pilot will be scaled up to run as a multi-PCN model across Nottinghamshire, with the team hoping to influence at national level in the long term.