Nominated for Team of the Year

Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital

“They are so friendly and welcoming. This team works so hard and does it with kindness and compassion to one another. Everyone is always happy to help and no question is a silly question.

Enjoyed my placement

As a student nurse I was privileged to have placements over my 3 years training at Bramble, and I was lucky enough to get a staff nurse position for when I qualified. The last 14 months of being a junior nurse has been challenging to say the least, and even nurses that have been qualified for many years have said that pressures and acuity of mental health patients has never been seen in this high amount before. I feel so privileged to work in the most fantastic team, who go above and beyond to support each other on Bramble. Every single person on the ward, the nurses, HCAs, ward clerks, consultants and MDTs, work together for the best of patients and the team as a whole. Bramble is a large ward, with many different sections, that have specialist nurses/teams but all seem to communicate and work together to best provide patient safety and care. Debriefing and talking through any issues that arise when working with CYP is embodied within the ward environment and everyone is highly supportive, as well as having professional nurse advocates that are able to and advocate the 1:1 confidential session. There is always laughter and a happy welcoming environment, where out of work activities ensure inclusion of all age groups and build morale, in an ever changing, high pressure environment of work. The support I received as a student has carried over into my junior nurse role, I am encouraged and supported to fulfil my staff nurse role and given the confidence to support the amount of student nurses that come to the ward. It is a team environment and everyone communicates and supports each other to maintain patient care as a high priority, which embodies the RCPCH values and NMC values. I feel proud to say I work within the Bramble team.

Bramble has faced an unprecedented time this past 2 years. It has been challenging to say the least, and has presented the team with situations we never anticipated. Despite this, we all continue to work as a team and support eachother in any way that we can. We continually work with other healthcare professionals, being advocates for our patients and ensuring that they are receiving the best possible care.
“”Bramble ward is an amazing team, it is the most supportive and friendly team who all look out for each other. Like many wards, they have not had it easy working through covid, but they also dealt with a complete major ward layout change (not including the ward changes during covid), a new computer system and gone completely paperless as well as the increasing demands of the ward.

Bramble have seen an increasing number of more and more complex mental health patients, many of whom are long term and take lots of time and care, the care the team have provided these patients has been exemplary. Creating bonds with these children and their families and acting as their advocate.

Bramble deal with numerous teams and people in the wider MDT on a daily basis, and feedback is always how friendly Bramble is. Bramble staff ensure effective communication with the wider MDT to ensure each patient receives the best possible care throughout their stay, discharge and after.

Bramble is a wonderful place to work, it has it’s stresses but the team is phenomenal and makes Bramble what is is!
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Bramble ward is like a family. There is so much love, kindness, care, support within this team. Together the whole team are so exceptionally skilled, knowledgeable and professional. The team work so efficiently and effectively as a multi disciplinary team that support one another in so many ways. Bramble strive to delivery excellent care to all patients and their families/carers. I thank the whole of Bramble Ward for their dedication to each other and their patients/service users.
Our ward goes above and beyond for all our patients and their families. We work as a team to ensure a good flow of communication an consistent care. We all work together and help each other in everyday tasks. We are a super friendly and loving team.
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The MDT on the Bramble team is outstanding! To provide our patients and their families with the finest treatment possible, everyone works well together. The increased demand for mental health patients has made life on the ward challenging, but everyone has worked well as a team to enable these patients’ best interests. The larger MDT in Bramble exhibits incredible compassion in taking care of these children and teenagers, and in my opinion, the team demonstrates the value of advocacy extremely well.
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The Bramble team have shown exceptional care of children and young people. Considering the ongoing mental health crisis at the moment and the winter surge arising, bramble battles through to show the best care possible for these patients and families and to enable the best recovery moving forward. The interaction within the wider multidisciplinary team is exceptional at the moment to enable staff to understand what is going on and their role as well as ensuring patients have the best treatment and visit. Bramble strives to continue to enable ongoing ways to help make patient and families visits better and too deliver the best care possible. The team understand and acknowledge how hard and under pressure work is at the moment although no day is a bad day within bramble when you have the best team to support you!
Despite all the significant challenges they are facing in relation to the general post pandemic struggles of inadequate staffing and environmental issues the Bramble ward team continue to demonstrate excellent care to all the children and young people admitted to this busy ward. I know that all of us are feeling the huge impact of the current national mental health crisis for the children and young people we care for but I continue to feel humbled by how the Bramble staff rise to these additional challenges and remain compassionate and caring towards all of our children and young people and especially to those presenting in mental health crisis. The Bramble ward team seem to be able to see past the challenging behaviour “”masks”” so often displayed by this patient group, to the awesome children and young people underneath, so that, no matter how challenging their behaviours the team are able to continue to provide the excellent care they deserve. I am so proud to work alongside this amazing team of multi skilled professionals- the nursing staff, domestics, ward clerks and secretaries, play team and security staff as well as our medical staff -all grades and all disciplines -are a credit to their professions. ”

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