Berry Ward celebrates success of co-produced Moments that Matter initiative

Berry Ward is leading the charge when it comes to true co-production, and the outcome has been extraordinary for the patients with meaningful activity having significantly increased for most patients.

Judian Hypolite, a Senior Healthcare Assistant (HCA) and the ward’s Champion, has been part of St Andrew’s Healthcare since 2019.

Working within our Specialist Service, she has dedicated her time to one core mission, ensuring that every patient feels heard. Not just clinically assessed, not just supported, but genuinely listened to.

Her most transformative idea began with a deceptively simple question – ‘how do we make our patients feel truly heard?’

HCAs, she realised, are the people who spend the most time with patients.

Judian said: “HCAs notice the small but vital details - the quiet anxieties, the personal preferences, the activities that bring comfort or joy. These insights are essential for building trust and delivering compassionate care, yet they weren’t being captured anywhere in a structured way.”

So Judian set out to change that.

Working with patients, not just for them, she co-designed the Moments That Matter initiative.

The idea was straightforward but powerful: empower HCAs to record meaningful moments and share them with the multidisciplinary team (MDT) so that therapeutic planning reflects the whole person, not just their clinical presentation.

Twice a week, key workers sit with their patients and ask: “What matters to you this week?”

Judian said: “The answers are never complicated. A walk outside. Cooking. A chat in the café. Or, in one case, something as small as having soya milk available for a shy new patient who struggled to speak up.”

When Judian realised how important this was to him, she made it her mission to get it. That tiny gesture unlocked trust and trust unlocked progress. The patient, once withdrawn and aggressive, is now more confident and calmer with staff.

Ward Manager Jackson Maziva said: “This is co-production in its purest form. The project wasn’t imposed on patients; it was built with them, shaped by their voices, and tailored to their needs. And the impact has been profound.

“Since its launch, Moments That Matter has reshaped the culture of Berry Ward. Patients feel part of a family. Staff understand them as individuals and the MDT receives better intel about our patients which enhances therapeutic decision-making. Quality of care has risen - not because of a new policy, but because of a new connection.”

Patient DS on Berry said: “My keyworker sessions are very good. I had the choice of picking my Keyworks myself and they engage well with me. I plan activities with them, and they support me with my meals. It was a good idea.”

Patient TL added: “The staff on Berry ward are my family; since I have no other family. I enjoy my key worker sessions, and I get to do plan activities with staff.”

Judian’s leadership hasn’t gone unnoticed. She has presented her work to the division, to the Executive team, to NHS England, and at the Culture of Care conference, where her ideas were met with enthusiasm and praise.

Jackson said: “This initiative is now fully embedded in the ward and has become part of the rhythm of daily life - a reminder that quality care is not just clinical, but relational too.

“Berry Ward is stronger because of Judian’s vision, her compassion, and her determination to make sure every patient has a voice. And thanks to her, those voices are now shaping the care they receive.”

Judian has continued to develop the project, noting formal evidence of the keyworker sessions were not being documented correctly on Rio.

So, to address this, Judian began training staff on how to properly document them, she also introduced staff surveys, so she could understand what some of the barriers they were facing in completing the sessions.

After analysing the survey data, Judian identified that staff mainly lacked protected time to complete sessions.

Additionally, patients reported that they felt their keyworker sessions often felt repetitive and expressed a preference for more meaningful activities rather than simply attending meetings.

So, Judian introduced a more therapeutic approach by encouraging staff to carry out activities with patients and conduct more sessions outside of the ward environment.

Following these changes, the data improved significantly, increasing from 35% in October to 125% in January.

Judian said: “I am very proud to have rolled this out, but I couldn’t have done it without the team and also the patients. It’s very much been a collaborative process. I’ve developed new skills, including the use of Excel, and I’ve applied my Quality Improvement training effectively. With the support of the Culture of Care team and Jackson, the project was successfully implemented on Berry, which I think has created a stronger sense of positivity, compassion, and therapeutic engagement across the ward.”