Co-production initiatives transform care on Berry Ward at St Andrew’s
A series of co-produced initiatives on St Andrew's Healthcare's Berry Ward has significantly enhanced patient experience. Berry Ward is a specialist low secure service for autistic men, and over the past year, the team has worked closely with patients to redesign how meaningful activity, communication, and keyworker engagement take place.
The work was driven by Judian Hypolite, a Senior Healthcare Assistant (HCA). She has been recognised for leading the improvements with a Cavell Star for her outstanding dedication The Moments that Matter initiative began with a simple question:
How do we make our patients feel truly heard?
Judian said:
HCAs are the people who spend the most time with patients. We 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.
Judian and Berry Ward patients co-designed the initiative to empower HCAs to record meaningful moments and share them with the multidisciplinary team (MDT) so that therapeutic planning could reflect the whole person, helping patients feel understood and heard. Twice a week, key workers now 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. In one case it was something as small as having soya milk available for a shy new patient who struggled to speak up.
By ensuring the patient got the milk he wanted, the patient, once withdrawn and aggressive, is now more confident and calmer with staff.
Berry 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. 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.
A patient on the ward said:
My keyworker sessions are very good. I had the choice of picking my key worker myself and they engage well with me. I plan activities with them, and they support me with my meals. It was a good idea.
Judian presented her work to NHS England, and at the Culture of Care conference, where her ideas were met with enthusiasm and praise.
Transforming keyworker sessions
Judian has continued to develop the project, noting formal evidence of the keyworker sessions were not being documented correctly on the electronic patient record system.
To address this, Judian began training staff on how to properly document them. She also introduced staff surveys so she could understand what barriers colleagues 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.
As a result, a more therapeutic approach was introduced 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, session completion rose from 35% in October 2025 to 125% in January 2026.
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.
With the support of the Culture of Care team and Jackson, the project was successfully implemented on Berry Ward, which I think has created a stronger sense of positivity, compassion, and therapeutic engagement across the ward.