ERIC wins Nursing Times Award

The results of the Nursing Times Awards 2016 were revealed on 26 October at the prestigious Grosvenor House, Park Lane, where the nursing and healthcare profession came together for a night of recognition and celebration of the sector’s achievements.

ERIC, The Children’s Bowel & Bladder Charity, won in the Continence Promotion and Care category, sponsored by Ontex Healthcare UK Limited. ERIC was praised by the expert judging panel for their innovative ERIC Nurse Project which was carefully thought-out to support patients and professionals to provide high-quality continence care by using the skills of a specialist nurse as well as her enthusiasm, commitment and compassion for patients.

With 22 targeted categories, the awards cover every aspect of the nursing profession, from ‘Nurse of the Year’ to ‘Patient Safety Improvement’ and ‘The HRH The Prince of Wales Award for Integrated Approaches to Care’.

The Nursing Times Awards are the most admired and relevant awards in the nursing and healthcare sector. The awards provide industry recognition and unrivalled networking opportunities.

Brenda Cheer, the ERIC Nurse, said: “I’m thrilled that ERIC has won this award for its early intervention work and I’m so happy I was able to lead the ERIC Nurse Project. I hope the project’s success at educating a wide range of professionals to tackle bowel and bladder problems at the earliest possible opportunity will be replicated in other parts of the UK. I can’t stress enough how important it is to get early intervention right to nip continence problems in the bud.

This award shines a light on an area of child health which is often overlooked or dismissed, but which I’ve seen can have devastating consequences for children and families if not dealt with appropriately.

“We continence nurses work in an unglamorous profession but we love what we do and we are passionate about the children in our care. ERIC’s work has been recognised by this award, but so has the work of children’s continence nurses everywhere.”

Jenni Middleton, Editor, Nursing Times, said: “Every year, I am impressed by the fantastic quality improvement projects led by nurses and the impact their work has on the patients, residents and service users they care for.”

“My congratulations to all of the nurses shortlisted and especially those who have won our coveted Nursing Times Awards. They deserve the praise of the profession and all of us at Nursing Times not just for putting together award-winning improvements, but having the determination, insight and intelligence to introduce these innovations against a backdrop that is getting more and more challenging. They deserve the recognition the NT Awards gives them and our respect. Well done to all our finalists for their talent and tenacity in making their care settings safer and genuinely better.”

The ERIC Nurse Project

The ERIC Nurse Project was launched in May 2013 in Bristol and South Gloucestershire. The three-year pilot study was funded by a Department of Health Innovation Grant and concluded in May 2016. The project aimed to increase early intervention into childhood continence problems and promote excellence in continence care.

The specific aims were to:

  1. increase parents’ awareness of what a continence problem is and where to go for support
  2. increase frontline health professionals’ and early years workers’ ability to support families around childhood continence and
  3. improve the child’s journey through continence care.

The project involved the development of leaflets to increase parents’ awareness of children’s continence and the support available, the delivery of training for health professionals and early years workers, and the development of a generic children’s continence pathway to improve the child’s journey through continence care.

Read the ERIC Nurse Project evaluation report here (PDF file)