Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CWP) are delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted for a Healthcare Transformation Award, for a project run in association with our partners at the Land Trust.
The awards form part of an event called Health + Care which is to be held on Wednesday 28 June and Thursday 29 June at ExCeL London. Organisers of the event say that it is Europe’s largest integrated health and social care event, which strives to build relationships between commissioners, providers and care suppliers.
CWP, along with national land management charity the Land Trust, have been shortlisted in the Improving Patient and Community Engagement category. This is due to a highly fruitful partnership that has seen CWP utilising the lush surroundings of the Countess of Chester Country Park, owned and managed by the Land Trust.
One of the main reasons for the establishing of the partnership, was to aid care plans provided by teams at our Trust for service users. Care plans provided by the team within CWP are focussed on individual needs, delivering appropriate, person-centred care. Through making use of the Countess of Chester Country Park, the specific elements of physical and mental care for service users and the wider community can be met through a range of activities.
Among the activities held regularly at the park are; health walks, buggy walks, Nordic walking, Green Gym, walk to run and parkrun. They all contribute to a tailored, person-centred approach to healthcare and give people the confidence and inspiration to actively enhance their wellbeing. Utilising the country park has meant that health activities have been fully included in programmes of recovery. In 2016-17, 290 formal health activities took place at the country park, with more than 1,200 participants.
Commenting on CWP being shortlisted for the award, Avril Devaney, CWP director of nursing, therapies and patient partnership, said: “At CWP, we are delighted to be shortlisted for this award along with our partners from the Land Trust. The project is hugely beneficial to people who access our services, as it allows us to provide them with person-centred, care plans.”
Working collaboratively with The Land Trust on this initiative has been a rewarding experience and has brought great value to our organisation.
The country park is located adjacent to the main Countess of Chester Health park site and is managed on a day-to-day basis by The Conservation Volunteers. Many of our staff also use the park, demonstrating how it provides a real and long-term, sustainable, benefit to health and wellbeing.
Alan Carter, director of portfolio management at the Land Trust, added: “We’re really proud of our partnership work with CWP at the Countess of Chester Country Park and are delighted to be shortlisted for this award. We hope the combination of our long-term sustainable vision for this public open space, CWP’s commitment towards patient and community engagement, and the passion and dedication shown by our managing partner The Conservation Volunteers, will prove to be award-winning.”