1st for Hanover as it gains Gold from RSPCA

HANOVER Housing Association, a leading retirement housing provider with properties in Southport including Maplewood on Cambridge Road, is celebrating being named as the 1st national housing organisation to achieve the RSPCA's gold standard for its commitment to pioneering initiatives around animal welfare.  A decade on from launching its recognition scheme, the RSPCA has announced that Hanover had been awarded the highly coveted PawPrint gold award. While many social landlords do not encourage pets, Hanover has taken a different approach, encompassing pet plans alongside those for care. Pet ownership is known to be beneficial to physical, social and psychological wellbeing among older people. Numerous studies have found that companion animals can lower blood pressure and help to regulate the heart rate during stressful situations, something which can lead to less reliance on the health system and a reduction of care costs.

Mark Lake, Director of Housing and Support at Hanover said:- "Resident wellbeing is a top priority for us. For many years we've recognised that pets can provide great companionship and also give older people a greater sense of purpose, so it has been vitally important that we provide the right environment that allows that to happen. Being so pet friendly is 1 of our key strengths and is something that attracts many older people to live on a Hanover estate. We know there are many benefits; individually and collectively; as a result of residents owning pets, so we are obviously delighted to be the 1st national organisation to be awarded the Gold standard."

Rachel Williams, Senior Parliamentary Advisor, RSPCA added:- "It's great to see Hanover achieving our prestigious Gold award. This is a real testament to the hard work of Hanover staff, their commitment to animal welfare and the health and happiness of their residents."

Hanover also believes that looking after an animal can lower isolation for those who live alone. Such is the extremely pet friendly culture in place for residents, that nearly 50% of Hanover estates enjoy the benefits of pets. The variety housed across the country includes some:- 760 dogs, 538 cats and 130 birds. For 10 years, the RSPCA has sought to celebrate, promote and reward the work of housing providers and other bodies in a number of areas that improve animal welfare. This is the 1st time, however, that the world's longest serving animal welfare charity has awarded a national organisation a gold award for going above and beyond in the services they provide.

Lancashire Care receives prestigious award at the Allocate Awards 2018

LANCASHIRE Care NHS Foundation Trust's Temporary Staffing Team have received a prestigious award at this year's Allocate Awards. The Allocate Awards celebrates and rewards those who have made a difference, whether that's to patients, colleagues, their entire organisation, or to the wider NHS. The Trust's Temporary Staffing Team received the 'Improving Working Lives' category at this year's awards and have been recognised for their work in providing the best opportunities for staff to work flexibly around their commitments using the Allocate Software systems.

The team have been working hard to develop the full capability of the Allocate system in order to provide a wide range of opportunities, for both substantive staff who wish to work additional shifts. Bank workers have access to ad hoc and block bookings of a variety of available shifts they can book from a mobile app. The team's overall objective was to increase the fairness of access to work, raise staff morale and provide a single route of access to different types of work to meet individuals' preferences. The successful implementation of the new system has meant that the Trust has increased its bank fill rates, meaning that there are more, regular staff working for the Trust resulting in consistent and improved care for our patients.

Wendy Simpson, Temporary Staffing Manager at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust said:- "We are delighted to have received the Improving Working Lives Award at this year's Allocate Awards. The team have been working extremely hard to ensure that staff across the organisation have the best possible opportunities and that the systems we have in place mean that staff can work flexibly around their commitments. We have received some really positive feedback from staff about the systems and it is great that we are able to offer a shift booking system which really meets the needs of our workforce. We are so pleased that our team has been recognised nationally and had a great evening celebrating all of the achievements!"

Zuber Patel, Senior Matron at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust said:- "Bank staff are the resource that keeps our patients safe when the going gets tough. We rely on them to be compassionate with patients but we get the flexibility to deploy them where we need them most. The Temporary Staffing Team always keep us updated when there are issues and if we ever need them they are available to help. The systems are excellent because it is transparent and that means we can do so much more than before with the same number of staff."

Lancashire Care's Older Adults Team receives Prestigious National Award

LANCASHIRE Care NHS Foundation Trust's Older Adults Rapid Intervention and Treatment Team (RITT) has received national recognition at this year's Positive Practice in Mental Health (PPiMH) Awards. The Annual Positive Practice in Mental Health Awards are held to celebrate all of the hard work that is taking place in mental health services across the country. This year, the Trust's Rapid Intervention and Treatment Team (RITT) was crowned the winner of the:- 'Older Adult Functional Mental Health Services' award for their commitment to providing a robust older adult mental health community service which focuses on keeping people well at home and avoiding preventable Hospital admission.

James Harper, Allied Health Professional Lead at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust said:- "We are so delighted to have received the Older Adult's Functional Mental Health Service award at this year's ceremony. The Rapid Intervention and Treatment Team (RITT) was 1st established so that the Trust could provide a robust older adult mental health community service with a focus on keeping people at home and avoiding preventable Hospital admission. The team work extremely hard to provide an urgent response to people in crisis by providing support to people in their own home and in care homes, and we are so pleased to have been recognised for this. We had a fantastic evening celebrating with our Positive Practice Collaborative partners and we look forward to hopefully doing the same again next year."

The Trust's Eating Disorder Service also received Highly Commended in the:- 'Community Mental Health Services for Eating Disorder' category, for innovatively embedding a GP into the service, which has resulted in better outcomes for service users.

The winners were announced at a ceremony was held on Thursday, 11 October 2018, by the Positive Practice in Mental Health Collaborative, a user led multi agency collaborative of 75 organisations, including:- NHS Trusts, CCG's, Police Forces, 3rd sector providers, front line charities and service user groups. For more information about this year's winners please visit:- PositivePracticeMH.Com.