The final of the CW+ Special Funding Call 2025 took place on Friday 14 March, and we are delighted to announce two winners:
Irina Stankeviciute, Hysteroscopy Lead with her project ‘Virtual Immersive Reality in Outpatient Hysteroscopy’, which involves the use of virtual reality while patients are undergoing hysteroscopy procedures to reduce anxiety, and David Soulsby, Clinical Lead Physiotherapist for Acute Paediatrics and Play and Youth Service Manager, with his project ‘Use of VR for scanning procedures preparation in paediatrics’, which uses a virtual reality headset with a pre-programmed experience of scanning suites and procedures to prepare paediatric patients for the process.
Misha Virtudazo, ACP-CCOT Lead and Fatimah Juma, Intensive Care Consultant / CCOT Medical Lead were announced as the runners up with their project ‘CCOT POCUSing on unwell inpatients in the ward’, which aims to proactively upskill critical care outreach nurses in point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) to enhance their ability to assess acutely unwell patients directly at the bedside.
CW+ will also work with the remaining finalists to explore how to support their projects:
- Ma Bernadette Ragonot, Associate Clinical Specialist in Pain Management and Rebecca Benson-Bailes, Clinical Specialist in Pain Management – ‘Opioid-weaning clinic’ – which involves setting up an opioid weaning/management clinic to help patients reduce their opioid usage before coming in for scheduled surgery. This will help achieve optimal pain management while recovering, therefore reducing length of stay in hospital after surgery.
- Stephanie Stevenson-Shand, Deputy Director of Nursing and Sarah Bryan, Lead for Dementia and Falls – ‘Reducing Falls with harm across acute adult inpatient areas’ – a pilot that uses ‘SURE’ falls pads with an alarm at the patient’s bedside. These smart sensor pads will be placed in beds and chairs in Rainsford Mowlem ward at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital to prevent falls in this acute frail ward.
Once again, the finalists presented their project ideas to a judging panel of leading experts comprising:
- Chris Chaney – CEO, CW+
- Robert Bleasdale – Chief Nursing Officer, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Jeremy Nugent – Head of Therapies, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Megan Sealey-Bright – Research and Communications Officer, Rosetrees Trust
Now in its eighth year, this Special Call forms part of the larger CW+ Grants programme, and offers nurses, midwives and allied health professionals at the Trust grants of up to £10,000 to fund projects for new service development, as well as to improve patient care and experience.