Directors’ Den—winners announced

27 April 2012

Congratulations to the winners of the first round of our new staff initiative Directors’ Den, based on the TV series Dragons’ Den.

Photo: The Directors’ Den panel Sir Geoff Mulcahy (Non-Executive Director), Mark Gammage (Director of Human Resources), Heather Lawrence (Chief Executive), Thérèse Davis (Chief Nurse and Director of Patient Experience and Flow) and Alastair McLellan (Editor of Health Service Journal)

Congratulations to the winners of the first round of our new staff initiative Directors’ Den, based on the TV series Dragons’ Den.

Directors’ Den encourages staff to be innovative and suggest ways in which they can improve their own services—the ‘carrot’ for the winning entries is that they will now be given funding to turn their ideas into reality.

Shortlisted applicants went in front of the Directors’ Den panel on 19 April—panellists included Trust Chief Executive Heather Lawrence, Chief Nurse Therese Davis, Director of Human Resources Mark Gammage, Non-Executive Director Sir Geoff Mulcahy andHealth Service Journal Editor Alastair McLellan.

They have allocated funding of more than £200,000 to five projects:

  • Annabel Bryant (Midwifery Development Lead) & Shereen Jones (Intrapartum Matron)
    Two linked proposals to promote natural birth:
    • ‘The Nest’, an area where low risk women can establish their labour in peace with the reassuring presence of a trained peer supporter (doula)
    • Training to enable midwives to incorporate complementary therapies into their midwifery practice
  • Laura Hoare (Paediatric Inpatient Administrative Co-ordinator) & Noel Palmer (Jupiter Ward Manager)
    A new website for patients of the new Chelsea Children’s Hospital at Chelsea and Westminster to make it a fun, interactive resource for children, young people and their families.
  • Carol Dale (Learning & Organisational Development Manager)
    A mandatory training video for all non-clinical staff working in the Trust which could be accessed at work or at home via the Trust website, incorporating a questionnaire to be completed as evidence that staff have done their training.
  • Cherry Brennan (Interim Maternity Inpatients Matron, Zoe Macgrath (Interim Postnatal Ward Lead) & Lena Karam (Antenatal Ward Lead)
    A 'campaign for peace' in Maternity to make it easier for women to speak to staff who are responsible for their care by replacing the current noisy and inefficient call bell system with a new system of communication fobs which women can activate to request assistance.
  • Sophie Graeme-Baker (Specialist Registrar, Radiology)
    Improving the training of staff in ultrasound-guided biopsy skills in Radiology by purchasing ultrasound simulators which allow trainees to practice on dummy patients.

The next round of Directors’ Den will be launched later this year because the first round received an excellent response from staff with a total of 48 applications.