Award is shot in the arm for nursing team

PASSION and dedication: (l-r) Catriona Campbell (from award sponsor Kellogg’s Nutrition Scientific Affairs), Sarah Critchley and comedian and awards guest Rufus Hound

A new approach to rheumatology has earned a local nursing team a prestigious prize.

The team, from Pennine MSK Partnership, has won the Community Nursing prize at the Nursing Standard Nurse Awards.

The nurse-led service was set up in response to increasing waiting times for rheumatology patients at the Royal Oldham Hospital in 2011.

Sarah Critchley, who leads the team, said: “The care of patients with chronic diseases was unplanned and episodic. I saw waiting times of six to nine months and this affected patient care.”

Under the new system, the team gives a patient an appointment within a week of referral and ensures rapid access to the worst cases. Patients are reviewed every four to six weeks until the disease is controlled, then every 12 months.