Star Wards

Star Wards' underlying and transferable principles and practices

1. Structure

• voluntary involvement by wards, ideas and inspiration not standards and compulsion

• flexible framework for:

• shining light on, bringing together, celebrating and getting validation for existing good practice

• structuring priority ward improvement developments

membership:

• enables direct contact with ward
• senseof identification with project and other members
• contact with and inspiration from other members around the country

2. Relationship between Star Wards and members

Charity:

• patient-led initiative
• no'baggage' in relationship so easier for wards to identify with and feel warmly towards ability to make and implement decisions very quickly
• ability to get (and spend!) funding from a range of charitable, private and  statutory sources relatively swiftly
• can be unorthodox, innovative/risky, fun, personal/warm
• unswerving emphasis on what's going well in services –comparable to 'appreciative enquiry' approach, and infectious nature of this positivity and 'can do' approach
• easy accessibility eg:
• membership,events, first set of publications all free of charge
• style of information, events etc very friendly, attractive and intelligible

3. Focus on 'soft' (but actually very hard) issues

• what patients do and feel day-to-day
•  staff:patient relationships especially healthcare assistants
• relationships between patients, including:
• nurturing ward community
• value of mutual support
• avoidance of conflict
• conversation and communication
• carers and visitors, mainly in relation to patient but also in their own right
• holistic approach to treatment (i.e. biopsychosocialmodel)
• holistic approach to patient's life
• patient self-management
• patients (including ex-patients and patients' reps)involvement in service planning, delivery and assessment

4. Ideas

• all practical and most are easy and free or low-cost to introduce
• mix of fixed (but very adaptable) 75 ideas which most members use for benchmarking, and huge scope for staff and ward initiative and adaptation
• already in place to some extent in all wards so they get big boost right from start, especially if they do benchmarking exercise

5. Staff

• promotion of staff autonomy, support, validation –i.e. staff being encouraged to use the full range of their skills and initiative and appropriately supported in carrying out their highly demanding role
• empowering front-line staff – benefit from but don't need much management permission, encouragement etc

6. Specific ideas relevant to all hospital inpatient care

• promotion of volunteers' involvement with patients
• physical activity
• nutrition
• culturally responsive wards
• high quality information for patients
• recreation
• importance of look and feel of physical environment including outdoor spaces
• patient feedback to staff and self-review of progress
• harnessing positive, informal relationships domestics often have with patients

What members say about the benefits of taking part in Star Wards

• Hope
• "It's fun, informative and innovative. Meeting new people has also been rewarding. A brilliant way to share practice"
• "Activities, group meetings, actually listening to what service users want. Gaining ideas from all over the UK. Being part of something new and exciting"
• Service user led treatment and care
• the enthusiasm it has given me and our unit to make changes
• "It has lead to happier places for patients, carers and staff to live and work in. Much more therapies, much less incidents of absconsion, violence and aggression"
• Enhancement of therapeutic engagement by re-energising staff to be creative and flexible in providing therapeutic activities
• It has encouraged us to talk to each other and the patients/carers in uncovering a wealth of ideas that will improve the patient experience
• Helps to get staff motivated and news from other wards proves that it can be done. If they're doing it why can't we?
• The recognition of the positive changes we have made and achieved
• It has made people think differently about how we run our services
• The potential to transform in patient care
• A simple quick systemic approach to improving patient experience that is not cost or labour intensive
• "Listening to service users/patients tell me that""it's so much better than before."
• "It has made the team think about some amazing ideas that alone we wouldn't have come up with and so has made the team adapt and become more open-minded to trying new and innovative ideas - thereby benefiting our services user. We are in the process of making some big changes (to do with Star Wards) so I feel service-users and the ward in general. Biggest gains are yet to come.
• "Altered the sense of autonomy of staff and patients wresting power from above. Overcoming negativity and creating a ""we can do it"" for patients and front line staff."
• "Knowing that something like this is happening in the UK,that we might be able to adapt in NZ!!!! Feels very hopeful reading the success stories!!"
• Empowering unqualified staff to take a more active role in delivering activities and also promoting a hospital-wide multi-professional approach to improving the hospital environment
• "Brilliant publications with funny, down to earth, real ways to help people when they are at their most unwell. Good levels of PR in the press to raise awareness. It's a good news story to counter all the negative press"
• "Structure, enterprise, inspiration"
• The momentum and improvements in activity and therapies that we now provide compared to a year ago. Great networking and sharing opportunity