Southport Hospital's Critical Care Unit Receives Prestigious Award

Staff from the Critical Care Unit at Southport Hospital are celebrating after winning a prestigious Nursing Times Award.

The Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust team won the Critical and Emergency Care Nursing category of the nursing profession’s top awards for an initiative that support patients’ families and their own staff after a patient sadly dies on the unit.

The “Pause Campaign’’ see staff and families come together for a minute’s silence in memory of patients who sadly die, a move that has been well received by relatives and carers.

Judges said the project demonstrated a “respectful, peaceful and compassionate closure after the death of a patient.’’

Mel Pinnington, Clinical Educator on the Critical Care Unit, said: “This introduction of a minute’s silence when a patient dies has proved to be invaluable in allowing the family to start to grieve and for the staff to process the emotional burden of caring for a patient.

“We are constantly looking at ways to improve the care we deliver to patients and families and support our staff to ensure they feel valued and supported at all times and to see this initiative win a Nursing Times Award is fantastic.’’

Sue Redfern, Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Governance at the Trust, said: “We are really proud of the team and their achievements.

“To Pause Campaign has made a real difference and is something that I know a lot of other hospitals around the country are now looking at introducing it into the areas too.’’

Commenting on this year’s event, Steve Ford, editor of Nursing Times, said: “The Nursing Times Awards represent an annual celebration of all that is good about nursing and midwifery, showcasing the innovation, energy and dedication of nurses and midwives across the UK.

“Once again, the standard of entries has been extremely high this year and to be shortlisted, let alone win a category, is a great achievement that marks out individuals and teams as truly exceptional in their area of work.

“I hope that our awards can go some small way to recognising the effort and skill shown by nursing and midwifery staff, whatever their specialty or setting and despite the enormous challenges they continue to face.

“Congratulations to all our winners for 2023.”