About
Yvonne Sawbridge Joined HSMC after a varied career in NHS, latterly as a Director in a PCT. She is also Co- Vice Chair of the NHS Alliance- a national organisation linking primary care clinicians, managers and organisations together. She is a founding member of their “Nurses in Commissioning” network. A Registered General Nurse & Health Visitor by profession, Yvonne has spent much of her career focusing on improving services for patients. She has worked as both a provider and commissioner and led service redesign projects such as IV Therapy in the community, and a QIPP nursing home project to improve resident’s nutritional status & prevent pressure ulcers.
Yvonne was also regional lead for one of the Darzi groups looking at long term conditions, which involved both facilitating the regional group of disparate clinicians and co-authoring the final report for the SHA. She developed the quality strategy for commissioning within the PCT, and has used this experience to develop Quality Strategies and a Quality Assurance visiting pack and teaching programme for CCGs.
At HSMC Yvonne is one of the team offering personal development and leadership programmes. She is trained to facilitate the NHS leadership framework 360 degree tool, and is the Programme Director and Course Tutor for the Black Country Cluster “Leadership in a new system of healthcare” programme. She has co-delivered stand alone Strategic Commissioning modules for Somerset PCT, and co-convenes two Masters modules : Quality & Service improvement in Health Care and Health Care Quality and Innovation: approaches to Improvement.
She has led the design and facilitation of both a national and local simulation exercise, commissioned by the NHS Commissioning Board, to test how CCGs might utilise commissioning support services.
Her main research interest currently relates to identifying solutions to poor nursing care, (see “Time to care?” HSMC Policy paper 12 December 2011) and she is leading an action research project with 3 local Acute Trusts to implement models of emotional support for nurses, commencing Autumn 2012.
Yvonne specialises in:
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Leadership
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Staff experience as a means to improved services to patients
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Quality Assurance and Improvement
Qualifications
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MSc in Primary Health Care Policy and Practice, University of Birmingham, HSMC (2003)
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Registered Health Visitor, Birmingham Polytechnic (1986)
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Registered General Nurse, Good Hope School of Nursing (1984)
Biography
Yvonne has enjoyed a wideand varied career across all aspects of the NHS, and developed numerous skills and expertise as a result. Her most recent role as Director of Quality & Nursing in a large PCT involved responsibility for a range of portfolios. This included Board Nurse responsibility for professional practice and standards in the PCT’s provider services; developing the strategy for quality assurance and quality improvements in services commissioned from a multitude of providers and establishing the new organisation’s performance management framework when the PCT was first set up in 2006. She has worked closely with practice based commissioners; local authority partners-particularly in the Children’s Trust and Adult & Children’s Safeguarding Boards and several providers both statutory and third sector, such as local Hospices.
She has worked with others to redesign services from the planning stages right through to implementation, and has involved users and patients as part of this process. Her biggest challenge has been to develop mechanisms to use patient experience effectively in the commissioning process. This was partly in response to the substandard care provided in Mid Staffs Hospital, of which the PCT was the main commissioner, but mainly because her career in the NHS was always focused upon patients and service users.
Yvonne has presented at numerous conferences over the last few years to both clinical and managerial audiences.
Current and previous projects
Yvonne’s main research interest currently relates to identifying solutions to poor nursing care, (see “Time to care?” HSMC Policy paper 12 December 2011) and she is leading an action research project with 3 local Acute Trusts to implement models of emotional support for nurses, commencing Autumn 2012. She has developed International links via this research with University of Illinois in Chicago and both Denmark and France have expressed interst in the findings.
Recent reserach projects also include evaluation of the impact of the NHS reforms on cancer swervices, and the evaluation of community services.
Teaching
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Aspiring Directors programme for NHS West Midlands
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Strategic commissioning module
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Quality module MSc programme
Research
Dissertation - “What helps & hinders to deliver the Chief Nursing Officer’s 10 Key Roles for Nurses” (related to developing professional practice).
Other activities
Yvonne has held the elected position of Co-Vice Chair of the NHS Alliance for the last 4 years, and ran their nurse network prior to that. She is a founding member of the Nurses in Commissioning network. Her role enables her to attend numerous events-often invitee only- and contribute to position statements; press releases; working papers and consultation documents in order to shape national policy. She also contributes to the NHS Alliance annual conference in terms of shaping proposals and presenting/participating at the event.
Publications
Sawbridge Y and Hewison A (2013) Thinking about the emotional labour of nursing - supporting nurses to care. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 27 (1), 127 – 133.
Sawbridge Y and Hewison A (2012) Taking action on poor practice. (accessed 2 April 2012).
Hewison, A and Sawbridge, Y (2012) Nursing leaders need backing and support to reclaim care. (accessed 14 February 2012).
Sawbridge, Y and Hewison, A (2012), Taking action on poor practice, 26(30), 62-63.
Hewison, A and Sawbridge, Y (2012), Nursing Leaders need backing and support to reclaim care. Nursing Times 108(7), 7.
Sawbridge, Y and Hewison, A (2011), Time to care? Responding to concerns about poor nursing care. Health Services Management Centre Policy Paper 12. HSMC, University of Birmingham. ISBN 9780704428874.
Sawbridge, Y (2010), Commissioning in the new NHS: how to get involved and influence service development. Nursing Times 106(33): 10-12.
Sawbridge, Y (2008), Protecting patient confidentiality: what nurses need to know. Independent Nurse, 19/5/08. P38.
Sawbridge, Y (2007), Commissioning is a clinical activity. Health Service Journal, Clinical management section.
Sawbridge, Y (2007), Getting to grips with practice based commissioning, Nursing Management, 14(4): 14-15.
Sawbridge, Y and Plumridge, N (2007), Do we need to have senior nurses on NHS commissioning bodies? Nursing Times, 103(2): 12.
Sawbridge, Y (2006), On why PCTs need nurse leaders, Health Service Journal, 116(6003): 33.
Sawbridge, Y (2005), Doctor's Responsibility for Nurses, Independent Nurse.
Sawbridge, Y (2004), PCTs: the real advocates for change, British Journal of Health Care Management, 10(11): 341-343.
Sawbridge, Y (2002), Nurse directors should play a key role in modernisation. Primary Care Report, 4(5): 46-47.
Sawbridge, Y (2001), Import duties, Health Service Journal, 111(5736): 20-21.