Libby Holroyd is a Clinical Nurse Specialist for Children’s Asthma at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. Libby has recently been nominated for an award for her innovative work in reducing emergency admissions for children with severe asthma.
Kay Duxbury, Director of Operations for the Family and Clinical Support Services Divisional Management team, Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust has this to say about Libby:
"Libby has carried out fantastic work within the peadiatric respiratory/asthma service to improve the lives of children, young people and their families.
Libby worked closely with Wakefield Council to provide pivotal support and information to get the Wakefield Healthy Housing Pathway set up. The service was set up as part of a national bundle of care for asthma in children and young people to provide support, warm housing and to ensure children and young people who are in homes that may be detrimental to their health can be referred to a service to provide support.
Libby's main aim has always been to improve the health and quality of life of respiratory patients, and the quality of family life for both patients under her care and in the locality.
I believe Libby has demonstrated all the Trust values in her work on this service. Libby has also strived to make every contact count, as well as really strengthening the multi-agency nature of improving population health. Libby is an inspiring Nurse Specialist and an asset to the paediatric respiratory team. She has now taken the first Mid Yorkshire Trust patient through the pathway. The patient had previously attended the Emergency Department, out of hours and GP on multiple occasions with asthma symptoms. All attendances required acute treatment and sometimes admittance to the Paediatric High Dependency Unit. The patient had missed multiple school attendances due to their asthma – it was affecting the patient’s quality of life and quality of family life.Libby spent a lot of her time working closely with the family to provide support on how to minimise dust and other contributing factors within the home. She also referred the patient to Wakefield Healthy Housing and assessed if the patient would benefit from any other services. With Libby’s advice and support the family were successfully able to reduce dust and other contributing factors. The home was assessed and confirmed as damp and treatment of the mould and damp has now started. The patient is already using less prescribed drugs and has had zero attendances to the Emergency Department or Primary Care to date. Libby has clearly made a difference to this young person and their family.”
Libby’s amazing work is an important and targeted response to the national bundle or care for improving children’s asthma. The West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership's Children Young People and Families Programme host a West Yorkshire wide Asthma Group to support professionals across health, care and education to understand the bundle and take steps towards improving asthma care for children and young people. For more information about the work of the group, contact casey.
Related information and links
- Case study: asthma patient and housing
- Asthma (Children and young people) - elearning for healthcare (e-lfh.org.uk)
- Affordable warmth :: West Yorkshire Health & Care Partnership (wypartnership.co.uk)
- Asthma Friendly Schools - Learn Live (learnliveuk.com)
- West Yorkshire asthma friendly schools :: West Yorkshire Health & Care Partnership (wypartnership.co.uk)
- Asthma :: West Yorkshire Healthier Together (wyhealthiertogether.nhs.uk)
- NHS England » National bundle of care for children and young people with asthma