Staff at a Beckton hospital have completed a six-month leadership development course to improve their skills.

Ward Managers and Team Leaders at Cygnet Hospital Beckton, completed the leadership development programme which focused on enhancing their management skills and service users’ experiences.

As part of the programme, each ward’s ‘nursing leader’ was tasked with developing a relevant project to be trialled on their ward. The projects were designed to enhance their service users’ experiences of care at Cygnet Hospital Beckton.

For example, Hooper Ward’s project, entitled ‘Making Time to Care’, focused on reducing incidents on the ward and the accompanying paperwork that follows each incident. By saving time on administration tasks, there is additional time to focus on working directly with service users, which in turn reduces frustrations, incidents and complaints. Once the project is fully implemented, it is anticipated to increase the time spent between service users and those providing care by 30 per cent.

Judith Etheridge, the hospital’s manager, said: “Our first priority is providing top quality care to each individual who seeks our support on their journey to recovery. Undergoing specialised training programmes allows our staff to remain leaders in their field and our care to keep on improving.”