Wishaw was snowed under this week with health and social teams coming together to share the improvement work of the last 12 months.
The ‘Jingle and Mingle’ event gave University Health & Social Care North Lanarkshire’s community teams the opportunity to network and share good practice.
Hosted by the Wishaw Locality, the glittering get-together featured a variety of exhibitions showing the wide range of work going on to help people live independently in their own homes and communities.
There were stands by teams including:
- Primary care pharmacy
- Integrated day centre
- Getting Better Together – Shotts Healthy Living Centre
- Podiatry
- Health promotion and staff wellbeing
- District Nurses
Prizes for the best displays were also available with the sheer number of great displays making it a real challenge for the judges to pick their top three.
After much deliberation, first prize went to the older adults’ community mental health team, whose stall was staffed by the ‘National Elf Service’. Second place went to the integrated rehab team, with the locality support service scooping the third spot.
Chief officer Ross McGuffie said: “A huge well done for today’s excellent event. There was clearly a huge amount of work and thought gone into the development of the session.
“The warmth and passion of all the staff was so evident and it was great getting to chat through what’s working well and areas of challenge with everyone.
“It was a great idea to pull the session together and so refreshing to have people all together in person. The joint working in the locality shone through strongly and it was nice to see staff visiting each other’s stalls to continue to develop those links.”
Michelle McKillop, Service Manager- Wishaw Locality, said: “it was brilliant to see all the different staff jointly sharing information and best practice on their service, role and supports.
“The energy and enthusiasm in the room was very clear and the feedback we’ve had is that it was an excellent networking opportunity. It was great to see the team working so positively together.”
Allison Smillie from the older adults’ community mental health team said: “Today has been a wonderful opportunity to network with other teams and partner organisations.
“It’s been great as it’s important we showcase the hard work that’s gone in to developing, and further improving the quality of, the service.”
The integrated rehab team’s Michelle Wilson added: “Networking has been so important today. We need each other’s expertise and collaboration to help people.
“So many of the people we care for have needs of varying complexity, so it’s good to see what other teams offer. It’s also lovely to put faces to names and voices!”
Paula Smith from the treatment rooms also enjoyed the day, saying: “This was really good chance to show the work we do as it’s important colleagues know the range of patients we see.
“It’s been lovely to be at a live event again and explain what our team of 22 does to help patients.”
