The Nursing Times awards bring together the nursing community to shine a light on the brightest talents in the profession and to recognise those making nursing innovative, patient-focused and inclusive. They aim to highlight innovation, perseverance and incredible work, and recognise individuals and teams who stand out as truly exceptional.
About Eye Envoy
The Eye Envoy initiative was devised as a training programme by Moorfields nurses to upskill local community teams in care homes to improve service delivery, decision-making, risk management and supervisory capacity all in respect to eyecare.
In the UK, 80% of people over age 60 already live with sight loss. Such conditions also have knock-on effects beyond how it changes a patient’s ability to see and carry out daily activities. For example, a fall can be the result of the patient not being able to see an obstacle instead of motor issues, while mental health issues may be accentuated by the degeneration of a patient’s vision.
The Eye Envoy programme thereby looked to improve care and reduce hospital admissions for local, older patients with progressive eye conditions. The training course would equip delegates with the knowledge to support people’s existing eye conditions, and the insight to be alert for deterioration or new sight loss problems. It is believed to be the first ever such training programme for care staff professionals.
The concept and programme was planned and delivered by senior nurses Dr Roxanne Crosby-Nwaobi, lead nurse for research and Tendai Gwenhure, clinical tutor and programme lead for UCL Clinical Ophthalmic Practice Programmes. They were kindly supported by Moorfields staff: nurse consultants Yvonne Kana, and Dr Nicola Dunlop, eye clinic liaison officer (ECLO) Julia Smythe, advanced emergency nurse practitioner Grace Eni, and Subhash Suthar, an external clinical and therapeutic applications specialist.
NHS England funding
Roxanne and Tendai also successfully applied to Health Education England and NHS England for funding as part of a project to upskill the community health workforce, demonstrating the programme’s potential for transforming community health and improving access to high-quality care closer to home for patients.
The programme delivered over three days to 24 local care home nurses from across eight north London care homes, with a reach of 614 care home residents. Post-programme assessments noted significant improvement in the delegates’ knowledge of eye care.
Congratulations to the entire Eye Envoy team for their award.
31 October 2023