NHS award for Mansfield Woodhouse care home-turned-hospital ward

The team behind a former care home that has been temporarily converted into a hospital ward have received an NHS award for their work in caring for patients who are waiting to be discharged from three local hospitals.

Sherwood Forest Hospitals opened its Sherwood Community Unit in Mansfield Woodhouse in May 2022 to free-up hospital beds for those that need them most within existing wards at the Trust’s King’s Mill, Newark and Mansfield Community Hospitals.

The Unit’s main purpose is to provide transitional care for patients who have already received hospital treatment and medical attention elsewhere in the Trust’s hospitals but are awaiting care packages to be arranged with local care homes, community teams or wherever else patients call home.

Since welcoming its first patient in early May 2022, the 19-bedded Unit has gone on to care for over 400 patients in that six month period.

The Unit was one of 18 winners announced at Sherwood Forest Hospitals’ annual Excellence Awards in October to celebrate Trust staff, volunteers and its community partners who have gone above-and-beyond expectations for the patients they serve.

Lindsey Chapman, the nurse who oversees the Sherwood Community Unit, said: “Our hospitals are always there for people when they need them but once they’ve received the vital attention they need, it’s so important that we can return patients to wherever they call home as quickly as possible to free-up our hospital beds for those that really do need them most.

“Our Community Unit is a great example of how we’re thinking differently to ensure patients can receive the best possible healthcare in the right place, while keeping our essential NHS services running.

“Patients and their families have been really grateful for the transitional care the Unit provides and we are delighted to receive this recognition for the work that our hardworking team have done over the past six months.”

The Trust’s Chair, Claire Ward, who presented the team with their Chair’s Award at a visit to the Sherwood Community Unit on Tuesday 15 November, said: “NHS services remain really busy across the country and our hardworking NHS staff and volunteers are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to help manage those pressures and provide the best possible care to patients.

“The Sherwood Community Unit is a brilliant example of that work and its opening has had a huge impact in being able to extend the walls of our hospitals to provide efficient and safe care to patients who are otherwise ready to be discharged from our hospitals but are waiting for their onward care to be arranged.”

The Unit has been opened as a temporary measure but is now expected to remain open throughout this winter, with its longer-term future still to be decided.