An NHS trust in the North East of England has become the first in the region to achieve a prestigious global nursing and midwifery quality mark.
South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust announced last week that it had been awarded Pathway to Excellence designation.
“The Pathway to Excellence programme highlights best practice that can be shared far and wide”
Sharon McDowell
This programme, run by the American Nurses Credentialing Centre (ANCC), celebrates hospitals that have created healthy working environments for nursing and midwifery staff.
Organisations are judged across six standards, covering shared decision-making, leadership, quality, safety, wellbeing and professional development.
South Tyneside and Sunderland began working towards the ANCC’s designation in 2019, but temporarily paused efforts the next year due to Covid-19.
From 2022, its leadership then relaunched its bid to achieve Pathway to Excellence, the process for which culminates in a staff survey.
To obtain the designation, a trust must get a 60% minimum response rate on this survey and it needs to contain evidence of the six standards.
As well as this, it must further demonstrate how it meets the standards via written evidence submitted to the ANCC.
The South Tyneside and Sunderland trust is now the eighth one in England to gain this designation, and the first in the English region of the North East. Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust was the first in the country to achieve designation, in 2018.
Melanie Johnson, executive director of nursing, midwifery and allied health professionals at South Tyneside and Sunderland, said she was “delighted” to receive recognition for the improvements her organisation had made.
“Achieving designation is testament to our incredible teams who have embraced the concept of collective leadership and the standards set out by the ANCC,” said Ms Johnson.
“This is reflected in the excellent standard of care they give to our patients, day in, day out.
“The accreditation highlights the positive environment of our organisation, as well as our commitment to the trust’s vision to deliver ‘excellence in all that we do’.”
South Tyneside and Sunderland’s nursing and midwifery workforce is also now the largest to achieve Pathway to Excellence, the trust claimed.
Assistant director of nursing Sharon McDowell, who led on the submission to ANCC, added: “The Pathway to Excellence programme highlights best practice that can be shared far and wide.
“The programme also helps us to identify any improvements needed so we can continue to strive for the best experience possible for both our staff and patients.”
