Northern Trust recognised at Macmillan Professionals Excellence Awards

The innovative work of the Northern Trust’s Macmillan Palliative Care Service Improvement and Community Specialist Palliative Care Team has been recognised at the Macmillan Professionals Excellence Awards.

The team was highly commended in the Integration Excellence category for its partnership approach and use of creative methods to raise public awareness and foster compassionate communities.

The awards provide an opportunity to recognise the outstanding contribution Macmillan professionals make to cancer services.

Explaining more about the team’s approach, Service Improvement Lead Fiona Gilmour said: “Many people don't understand what palliative care is until it knocks at their door. We're trying to raise awareness and educate the public in a variety of ways that will help them plan for the future.

“It’s our aim to enhance the lives of people with palliative conditions and address sensitive topics like grief, loss and palliative care through a broad range of impactful projects which are aimed at people of all ages and parts of our communities.”

In recent times, the team has organised a very successful art project in local schools, worked with the farming community around succession planning and led the development of a network of death positive libraries.

“We want to transform perceptions about palliative care and make it much less of a taboo subject. Partnership working has been a key part of this and we’re really pleased to have had this opportunity to showcase our work to the wider Macmillan family and receive this prestigious recognition,” Fiona added.

The Northern Trust was also represented at the awards by its Haematology Clinical Nurse Specialists, who were finalists in the Specialist Palliative Care category. Their service improvements include introducing nurse-led bone marrow biopsy clinics which have reduced patient discomfort and achieving Myeloma UK’s Clinical Service Excellence Programme accreditation. 

The team has also worked to increase the uptake of holistic needs assessments and establish vital peer support groups in collaboration with their patients as part of a proactive approach and passion for patient-centred care.