Congratulations to colleagues within our Secure Care and Offender Health team who have been nominated as finalists in the Nursing Times 2024 Dame Elizabeth Anionwu Award for Inclusivity in Nursing and Midwifery category.

Over the last two years Reach Out has commissioned the Reach Out Inequalities Service Evaluation (ROISE). The aim of this evaluation was to get an understanding and further explore the experiences of service users in relation to inequalities and transformational change.

This ground-breaking work was led by Experts by Experience within Team BSMHFT alongside two clinical inequalities leads. The transformation work was delivered through a clinical inequalities deliveries group where both Rohon Webber and Jasmin Benjamin-Raj played a pivotal role with the support of the EDI team, Community Engagement team, carers lead, as well as the Multi-disciplinary team.

Throughout the process the team was able to engage with approximately 300 service users from across secure care within both inpatient and community settings. Co-production was at the very heart of all the engagement events that took place which included consultation, discussions, focus groups and workshops. These events enabled the team to collect both qualitative and quantitative data that enabled them to develop a Clinical Inequality Strategy document. This document has paved the way to innovatively deliver the transformational change within secure care services indicated by its patient population.

The team have developed sustainable community initiatives which aim to improve patient and service user access, experiences, and outcomes. This creates a platform for external agencies to work with secure care services including Red Earth Collectives, Catalys4change, culturally appropriate advocate services, cultural connections and make change happen within communities.

The clinical inequalities work was able to promote cultural celebration, reduce restrictive practice and support the timely implementation of the “Use of Force Act”.

The team are active members within residence councils, the health inequalities working group, and are also fully supporting the delivery of the Patient Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF) which looks to improve the experiences and outcomes of patients and service users from racialised communities. In addition, the group have also developed a clinical inequality working group which is aimed at addressing the ROISE findings for each local areas.

Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Marimouttou Coumarassamy (Coumar) said:

As a division, we are so pleased for this recognition. This ground-breaking work started to transform the lives of our service users and the experience of our staff. I am sure this recognition will help to share our learning with other providers across the country.

The winners of the Nursing Times Awards will be announced at a glittering ceremony in London on Wednesday 23 October. We wish the team the best of luck – they are already winners in our eyes.