Complex care nurse Claire Knight has won an award for the work she did to help improve the health of homeless people.
Claire, a nurse with Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT) was a winner in the Kent Housing Group’s annual Excellence Awards. She was nominated by staff at Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, after working in close partnership with them to provide a health and wellbeing service for rough sleepers.
The awards celebrate people, teams, groups and projects which have done something “extraordinary”.
Colleagues at Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council who nominated Claire, said she had done “amazing” work, and had “unwavering commitment to improving the lives of this otherwise excluded group”.
A virtual awards ceremony was held on Friday, 14 May.
Claire and Stephanie Rhodes, Head of Service, Long Term Services west Kent at KCHFT, ran a quality improvement (QI) project to tackle health inequalities experienced by homeless people. As homeless people can be reluctant to access mainstream help for their health, the project involved taking healthcare to hostels and a day centre, working in close partnership with other health and wellbeing organisations.
Claire said: “It was amazing to be nominated for this award by the west Kent councils. The rough sleeper Initiative has really made a big difference to people’s lives. Multi-agency working is certainly the way forward in supporting patients who have such complex needs.”
Find out more here on our QI website.