The Look, August 2016

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Look

For Southend University Hospital staff & volunteers

August 2016

Bands 1-4 celebration

CQC report

RE:ACTION

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Page 7

Trust recognises the contribution of bands 1-4.

Chief Executive outlines post-report action plan.

This month’s focus is on staff recruitment.

Innovative sepsis pathway

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A charge nurse from our emergency department (ED) has been featured in a celebration of nursing innovations from across the region.

Matthew Osborne has helped create new “care pathways” – or treatment plans – to help give often seriously ill patients the most effective care.

His work is featured in the Nursing Standard journal along with other pioneering work by nurses across the East of England.

The care pathways ensure that when faced with a patient with a particular condition or set of symptoms, staff working in ED have a set list of checks and treatments to follow to help make sure they get the best care and time is used effectively to allow more patients to be seen quickly.

One care pathway which Matthew helped develop is for sepsis, which if not treated quickly can lead to organ failure and death. It is responsible for up to 40,000 deaths annually.

Matthew and his team believed a simple assessment tool and treatment plan for

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PIONEERING : Matthew Osborne (above) has been praised for his pathways

all ED staff to follow would help tackle the problem of insufficient knowledge of early sepsis treatment and recording of the condition in hospital.

Matt said: “We now identify and treat over 91 per cent of sepsis patients within the first hour of their arrival in the ED, and the tool has been so successful.”

Professor John Kinnear, Consultant in Anaesthetics and Critical Care Medicine, said: “We introduced the pathway in ED in September 2015, and have subsequently begun to roll out a similar sepsis pathway for inpatients on the hospital wards. We

have also updated our pathway to incorporate the latest NICE guidelines.”

“We are monitoring the longer term effects of the introduction of this pathway in both ED and the ward environments, and will be undertaking detailed analysis of how this introduction has benefited our patients to enable us to further improve treatments and outcomes for patients with sepsis.”

Yvonne Blücher, Chief Nurse, added: “This is a great innovation led by nursing at Southend and puts patients at the heart of demonstrating compassionate and safe care.”

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Urology decision Although the final decision has yet to be made an evaluation panel made up of clinicians, patient representatives and commissioners, has recommended a urology centre for the county is based at Southend Hospital.

Sue Hardy, Chief Executive, said: “I am delighted the panel found that the proposed service at Southend was best placed to deliver the countywide Specialised Urological Cancer Surgery single site service in Essex.

“I must give particular credit to the team who did such excellent work pulling the bid together.”

Mr Sampi Mehta, Consultant Urological Surgeon and Clinical Director, said: “Southend is a designated cancer centre of excellence for urology services and the only centre in Essex to provide Brachytherapy for prostate cancer.

“This recommendation has far reaching benefits to many other areas such as gynaecology and colorectal surgery.”

The recommendation will be made to NHS England later this summer following further engagement, with the new service starting in April 2017.

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The Fantastic 1-4 The Trust recognised the contribution bands 1-4 staff provide each and every day across the hospital with a Celebration Day held at Saxon Hall on Wednesday 13 July.

Eileen Gallagher, Careers and Apprenticeship Manager, who introduced the event, said: “The day was intended as an opportunity to say thank you and make staff feel appreciated.”

Over 45 nominees attended, covering all staff areas of the hospital from Health Care

Assistant to Data Quality Assistant, from Pharmacy Assistant to Porter and from Carpenter to Domestic. Each nominee in attendance was nominated by their manager.

Mary Foulkes, Director of Organisational Development and HR, said: “This year the nominations were based on how nominees demonstrate Trust values.

I was delighted to present each nominee with a token of the Trust’s appreciation for the contribution they make

each day. Staff on bands 1-4 make up 41 per cent of the Trust’s total workforce; they are a diverse group of individuals employed in both clinical and non-clinical roles critical to our success and the efficient and effective delivery of health care provision”.

Activities on the day, which were all linked to Trust values, gave those attending the opportunity to network, have fun and learn new skills. The learning and development team facilitated the activities

and were available for staff to explore learning and developmental opportunities The event closed with line managers - who were able to attend - joining their nominees for lunch.

Each nominee was asked to summarise the event using one word – “valued”, “recognised” and “appreciated” being common responses. Eileen concluded: “The day was well received and we hope to build on its great success next year.”

EVENT: Bowel disease blow-up

EVENT: Recruitment day 13/08

Visitors to a special health and wellbeing event for adults with learning disabilities were given a unique opportunity to learn about bowel cancer and diseases of the large intestine with the help of an inflatable walk-through replica of a human colon.

Over 200 visitors got a closer look at conditions like polyps and Crohn’s disease as well as different types of cancers.

The Trust’s Specialist Nurse for Learning Disability, Sarah Haines, said: “For people with learning disabilities constipation and bowel problems are a real big issue and can make people extremely ill. It isn’t a subject that people easily feel they can talk about, so we wanted to focus on something fun to

Do you know any registered nurses, operating department practitioners, pysiotherapists, occupational therapists, and diagnostic imaging professionals who may be interested in working at the Trust?

On Saturday 13 August, the hospital is holding a recruitment open day enabling people interested in working at the hospital to find out more, ask questions and interview all on the same dedicated recruitment day.

Nurses and staff from all specialities, plus staff from the Ladybird Nursery and the staff benefits team, will be on hand to talk about their roles at Southend and the benefits available to staff who join the team. The event will run from 9am – 4pm and is

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help improve awareness of bowel care. And with a giant inflatable bowel there isn’t a lot else people can focus on.

“It really helped to bring the issue to life and visualised just what is going on in your tummy to promote conversation, debate and give people the confidence to talk about it with a fun yet educational introduction.”

Around 300 people attended The Big Health Day 2016 which took place at Southend Leisure and Tennis Centre, Garon Park. The event was organised by SEPT and Project 49, a community based resource run by Southend Borough Council.

open to registered nurses, ODPs and diagnostic imaging professionals with no booking required. Anyone interested in attending for an interview should pre-book online via the following link: http://bit.ly/joinSouthendNHS

There will be interview slots available on the day and after the event for those who don’t pre-book an interview.

Deputy Chief Nurse Cheryl Schwarz, said “We are excited about welcoming new recruits into the Trust.

“We have been successful in interviewing and recruiting new nurses on the day at the other events we have run this year, so our hopes are high for attracting a crowd of potential new staff.”

August 2016

Trust action plan post CQC report The Care Quality Commission (CQC) published its report for Southend Hospital at the beginning of the month and the detailed report had lots to commend the Trust and its hard-working staff.

The report also highlighted the challenges the Trust faces in the months ahead as it continues to improve its service.

Sue Hardy, Chief Executive, said: “Many of our individual areas reviewed have received good ratings which is a fantastic testament to the services we provide.

“As a Trust we have been given an overall rating of “requires improvement” which I believe rightly reflects the journey we are on, and indeed the issues and challenges we ourselves told the inspection team when they first arrived.

“No areas were given an “inadequate” rating which demonstrates the hard work we have started, and continue, to transform and develop the services we provide to our local community. “ The Trust is now developing a detailed action plan in response to the areas identified for improvement, highlights what we still need to do, and also recognises the system wide challenges we need to work together with our partners to tackle.

Sue added: “Alongside our clinical directorates we have developed a detailed

action plan in response to those areas identified for improvement and to ensure we capture the evidence the CQC will want to see to ensure we are meeting their requirements.

“The report describes many positive and outstanding aspects of what we do here at Southend and most importantly for me it reflects the unwavering and dedicated commitment of you all.

“For the domain areas of “caring” and “effective” we received good ratings and as Chief Executive I could not

About the CQC inspection process

• Is it caring?

• Is it well-led?

The CQC inspectors based their ratings of each service or team visited on key questions across eight service lines, the evidence for each then leads to the overall rating given. The questions are:

The CQC are an independent regulator of health and adult social care whose job is to make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, highquality care by monitoring, inspecting and regulating services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety.

• Is it safe?

• Is it effective?

• Is it responsive?

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be prouder that the care I face are system wide issues, see every day here has been particularly the recruitment of recognised and acknowledged staff, increased demand and in a public lack of capacity. report.

“I am “Many of our “It tells particularly me that our pleased that individual areas values and so many reviewed have overwhelming areas were received good ethos of highlighted ratings which Care With as “good”, Compassion with one area is a fantastic are evident marked as testament to day in day “outstanding” the services we out and that within the provide.” overwhelmingly report, and also our patients are recognition was treated with given to our kindness, by professional and many areas of best practice caring teams.” and innovation.”

Alan Tobias OBE, Chairman, Sue concluded: “Finally said: “The report reflects the thank you all again for journey we are on, particularly welcoming and engaging with in developing our clinical the inspection team back in leadership structure to ensure January and your continued the decisions we make as an support in delivering on organisation are informed by the outcomes of the CQC’s our clinical teams. feedback.”

“The inspection team also n You can read the full CQC acknowledges the work we report here: http://www. are doing with our partner cqc.org.uk/provider/RAJ and organisations such as the feed back to Sue, Alan or any CCGs and local authority in member of the executive recognition that many of the team your thoughts and challenges and pressures we views.

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Screening programme could save lives of men aged over 65 Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) screening is a National Screening Programme for men in their 65th year. It is a simple and quick ultrasound scan to detect any weakening or bulging of the abdominal aorta which is called an aneurysm.

It’s a service only open to men as they are six times more likely to have an AAA than women.

This condition mainly affects men between the ages of 65-74, it is symptom free and, although rare, large aneurysms can be fatal as they can eventually burst and cause internal bleeding.

Around 85 out of 100 people die when an aneurysm bursts.

Belinda Sheridan, AAA Screening Technician, explained: “The test is quick, painless and could potentially save a person’s life; it is certainly worth the 10 minutes it takes to have your abdomen scanned.

“If we find an abdominal aortic aneurysm early we can either monitor it or treat it to avoid the aneurysm causing

serious problems. Results are given immediately to the patients and a letter confirming the result sent to the patients GP.” Although the six-strong team are based at Southend Hospital, screening takes place at various clinics, GP surgeries

and hospitals all over Essex.

Call 01702 385 559 to find out the nearest screening site for you.

The Essex programme commenced screening three years ago so men aged 68 and over may have missed out on the scan and.

Men over 65 years of age can phone the above number with their GP address and NHS number, which can be found on any prescription, and also self-refer.

Call 01702 385 559

Prizes and awards presented to trainee doctors Prizes and awards were recently presented to the Trust’s trainee doctors at one of their weekly meetings as this year’s training draws to a close.

The awards presented included Best F1, Best F2 and Best Core Medical Trainee, the Judi Sharpe Educational Excellence Award and the North East Thames Foundation School Merit Award. There was also a new award for 2016, the Patient Safety Reporting Award, comprising two winners - one Speciality Trainee and one Foundation Doctor.

One of those taking

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home an award was Dr Susan Millar, who won the Best F2.

Surprised but delighted, she said: “It’s a lovely thank you and recognition of all the hard work that I have been doing.

All of us work very hard here but it is very nice to be singled out.”

Dr Millar has been training at Southend for a year and was in London before and she is now heading to Scotland for core surgical training. But she’ll leave with fond memories and will be recommending Southend Hospital for

training.

Dr Millar added: “It’s brilliant, really supportive and is both a nice hospital and a really supportive community.

Southend is also a really nice place to live.

This last year there were 36 F1 doctors, 39 F2 doctors and 183 doctors in training posts at Southend. There are a total of 605 doctors working at the

Trust.

Katie Palmer, Medical Education Manager at the hospital added: “I think that Southend Hospital offers our junior doctors excellent learning and developmental opportunities, dedicated and supportive consultants and clinical colleagues and a friendly and efficient medical education team.

“All of those who have been shortlisted or won awards like Dr Millar are a credit to themselves and the hospital.”

Dr Hartnett hands Dr Susan Millar her award.

August 2016

Students from Futures deliver joy to Southend’s children’s ward

A group of Year 9 and Year 10 students from Futures Community College, Southend, came bearing a whole host of gifts for poorly children on Neptune ward.

The 13 and 14 year olds were visiting as part of their student leadership team that wanted to give something back to the community.

Head of both Year 9 and

the Student Leadership Team, Jay Plucknett, said: “It gives the students a real sense of achievement, of doing the right thing and helping make people smile.

“I think they’ve got just as much out of it as those they’ve given gifts to.”

Ward Manager, Claire Scott, told the students: “One patient has been on Neptune for three weeks so it was great that she was given a host of items to help keep her active and she was really happy and had a big smile on her face.

You’ve really helped make a lot of patients’ day.”

It wasn’t just patients who received items; staff were also

given a delicious selection of baked goods to help keep them going.

And on behalf of the Year 10, students Tani Saensupha, 15, from Southend read out a heart-warming letter aimed at the staff on the ward and those right across the hospital.

Tani read: “Thank you for everything you do for us within our community.

“You have treated us as individuals, our families, friends, colleagues and loved ones and we wanted to show you our appreciation.” full story at : Read www.southend.nhs.uk

Fake buttocks and breast examination torso wow potential future nurses at Greensward Academy Southend’s Lead Urology Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist, Ann French, gave a short talk at the Greensward Academy industry day on how her 35 years in nursing had developed and job opportunities for nurses today.

She also brought along a selection of equipment used by herself and other colleagues in the hospital.

These included both male and female catheterisation models and catheter equipment.

Ann said: “It gave me confidence that some of the young faces I saw in the room would one day probably be looking after me in hospital; the students were fun, interactive and so well

behaved.”

The students participated in learning about anatomy, conditions that require patients to need a catheter and actually catheterising the models. A breast examination

torso was also used which had tumours in the breast and armpit; the students were shown how to examine this.

Finally, a set of buttocks were available, highlighting the different stages of

pressure sores and their management.

The students had time to use the training models and ask lots of questions and this hands on approach really got them engaged about the role of nursing.

Perhaps Ann has even helped to influence a future generation of nurses for Southend as one of the students said: “The nurse was really interesting to listen to.

She told us what it is actually like to be a nurse and why she loves her job.

“It wasn’t like all you hear in the papers about the NHS; she really loved it.” full story at : Read www.southend.nhs.uk

Students ‘meet the professionals’ A group of 30 students from Belfairs Academy, in Leigh-onSea, visited Southend for an insightful session to find out about the range of roles at the hospital as part of a ‘meet the professionals’ day.

David Fairweather, Membership Manager, said: “Lots of people just think hospitals employ doctors and nurses but there are

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a whole host of dedicated professionals caring for patients, much of which takes place behind the scenes.

We wanted to help raise awareness of some of those areas and possible future career pathways.”

This was the fourth year that the school has taken part in such an informative day. In the morning they met staff

from a variety of professions including doctors, nurses, security and midwifery. Whilst in the afternoon the students, aged 14-17, and teachers enjoyed informative tours around the pharmacy and radiotherapy departments.

Nicky Barrett, Head of Health and Social Care at Belfairs, said: “The ‘meet

the professionals’ day is a fantastic opportunity for the students to find out what it’s like to work in the hospital.”

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Sunday 18 September has been announced as the date for this year’s popular Southend Hospital Charity Walk for Wards event.

Supporters of the hospital are invited to raise money for their chosen ward, department or fundraising appeal by completing a 7km seafront walk. It starts at 10am from Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Shoebury and continues to Chalkwell shelter, with fancy dress being optional.

Last year, over £9,000 was raised for 23 different areas of the hospital for popular funds, such as Oncology and Paediatrics and for those that are not often thought about, such as the Day Stay Unit fund and the Diabetes fund.

And wherever it was raised, that money that has already made a huge improvement to patient

care. Elise Fleetwood, Events Manager for Southend Hospital charity, said: “Young and old and lots of families take part in this annual event of ours, often in memory of loved ones or in thanks to hospital staff who have cared for them or a family member.

Everyone is welcome to

take part and there is always a fantastic atmosphere amongst our wonderful supporters.

“We know that not everyone wants to jump out of a plane, abseil down the side of a building or do a marathon, so for many who still want to fundraise for their local hospital, they get

to play their part with a nice walk along the seafront.” n To register for the 2016 Walk for Wards, visit www. shcwalkforwards2016. eventbrite.co.uk or contact the fundraising team for an application form; 01702 385337 or fundraising@ southend.nhs.uk

Walk for wards

Trilogy of triathlons for SCBU

Research doc to air on Radio 4

Having completed the White Oak Triathlon in Dartford in June, Christian Jenkins, 41, from Rayleigh has just completed his second triathlon in Grays, with one more to go in September.

Christian, a project manager for Thomson Reuters, set himself this gruelling triple triathlon challenge in order to raise £1k for Southend Hospital’s Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU).

Christian explained: “Two years ago our daughter Olivia spent seven very long weeks

Emma Matthews, Joint Ward Sister on Cardiac and Medical Day Stay, and her son, Jack, aged 16, are set to appear on a BBC Radio 4 documentary about pioneering research, entitled Personalised Medicine: Dose By Design.

The documentary follows up on the work done by Exeter research teams after the successful genetic discovery 10 years ago of a gene that causes very unstable neonatal diabetes and the subsequent successful treatment that changed the lives of now hundreds of people.

Emma said: “Jack was one of the first to be treated

in SCBU and the care she received was phenomenal. My wife and I are truly grateful to SCBU for helping Olivia through a rocky beginning and getting her home where she belongs!”

Kayley Fletcher, Community Fundraising Manager at the hospital, said: “SCBU are currently raising funds to purchase a giraffe incubator and have so far raised £13k of their £27k target. The money that Christian is raising will greatly help the department reach their target.”

The third and final part of challenge will be the Dunmow Triathlon on 25 September n You can donate via: www.justgiving.com/ fundraising/Christian-Jenkins

following the discovery of the gene mutation that causes him to have diabetes, epilepsy and developmental delay. It has saved his life.”

Jack’s condition is successfully managed at Southend Hospital under Dr Chetan in partnership with Exeter which prevents the regular trips across the country that Jack used to have when he was young.

The documentary airs on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday 16 August at 8pm and is repeated again on Sunday 21 August at 5pm. full story at : Read www.southend.nhs.uk

Congratulations to the winners of July’s staff lottery: 1st prize (£456): Sheila Reece (98); 2nd prize (£91.20): Christine Israel (612), Amanda Wilkinson (205); 3rd prize (£45.60): Sandra Grant (533), Emma Dowling (900), Nicola Sanderson (550); Kelly Carter (131), 4th prize (£18.24): KapilDev Arora (115), Teresa Samson (662), Claire Pilgrim (680), Anita Ashworth (547), Hayley Beare (385).

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August 2016

Hospital hosts Fellowship Southend’s renowned rheumatology team has just played host to the British Society of Rheumatology’s (BSR) Travelling Fellowship Week, allowing the hospital to showcase its staff, facilities and procedures.

Running for over 20 years, the Travelling Fellowship is a unique opportunity for UK trainees and newly appointed consultants to visit other rheumatology departments to study their resources and activities first hand.

It provides a much valued opportunity for trainees to interact with each other and share the innovative practices of the host hospital.

The Fellowship included consultants from Musgrove Park Hospital, Bristol NHS Trust University College London Hospital NHS Trust

and Luton and Dunstable NHS Trust, as well as Liverpool and Tunbridge Wells. Of the visit Professor Bhaskar Dasgupta, the hospital’s Consultant Rheumatologist, and Clinical Director R&D said: ‘The feedback from the Travelling Fellows has been brilliant.

They commented about the breadth of joined up services

available in the hospital and within Rheumatology.

It shows that acute trusts become centres of excellence by greater emphasis on academic and research work.

This improves patient satisfaction and outcomes and helps recruit better staff. Two of the travelling fellows have approached us for work in an

honorary capacity to learn and train at Southend.”

The BSR’s Education and Training Committee said that Southend Hospital was chosen to host the Fellowship this year as they were very impressed by their excellent detailed and diverse programme including sessions on saving sight and the fast-track pathway, temporal artery ultrasound, imaging for Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA), biologics for Polymyalgia Rheumatica and large vessel vasculitis, patient education and integrated pain services.

One of the fellows, Dr Priyanka Chandratre, commented that they had a great time, with lovely hospitality by the Southend team. There were also lots of interactive learning opportunities.

Re:Action This new column will be highlighting how we as a Trust are ensuring that our staff engagement is improved so that Southend University Hospital is in the top 20% of all trusts by the year 2020. Covering actions that are being taken, each column will focus on a specific theme from our corporate action plan. This month’s focus is on ‘staff recruitment’.

Ensuring that we attract and recruit staff to Southend is a key area of focus for us this year as we face nationwide challenges around the shortages many key roles.

The recruitment team and hiring managers have been working really hard to ensure we bring talented staff on board.

Niki Butler, Head of Workforce Planning and Recruitment, explained there are some significant challenges in recruiting into some specialist nursing, consultant and other professional groups such as radiographers. We have an action plan identifying different recruitment channels to meet these challenges sourcing candidates locally, nationally and internationally.

What’s already in progress?

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Recruitment Champions have been identified for each ward and are working with the Recruitment Officers to deliver a recruitment open day on 13 August.

We are currently running radio adverts on Heart FM to market our vacancies across Essex.

Working with an external specialist agency, we have sourced some excellent nurses from the EU; specifically Spain, Italy and Romania – 32 to date.

We welcome them all to Southend. We have also run a series of recruitment open days in the Education Centre with the next one on 13 August; interested

prospective candidates have the opportunity to come and meet the team and to find out more about employment options. We have also had a huge focus on recruiting to the bank with an additional 198 recruited since January 2016, if you are interested, please contact the team at: bank.recruitment@ southend.nhs.uk

What’s also planned?

There are plans in place to recruit nurses from the Philippines in September.

The team will be attending recruitment fairs in London in September and October to promote to opportunities we have here at Southend.

We encourage all staff to make their colleagues aware of our vacancies.

Got an idea for us to help improve staff engagement?

Email staff.engagement@ southend.nhs.uk

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> STAFF NOTICES > WELCOME TO... Brinda Sittapah,

Company secretary Brinda is originally from Mauritius. She joined the Trust in June with over seven years of corporate governance and company secretarial experience across different sectors ranging from private, financial services, charity, and nondepartmental public bodies.

As Company Secretary, Brinda will be supporting the Board of Directors and the Trust as a whole to operate effectively in accordance with the highest standards of corporate governance whilst providing support to the Council of Governors.

Brinda has a Master’s degree in Corporate Governance and is an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA).

Brinda is married with twins, a boy and a girl, and has recently relocated to Southend.

Brinda said: “This is my first NHS job and I feel privileged to be part of the Southend University Hospital team. I’m enjoying the challenges and I’m really looking forward to more exciting times ahead.”

> goodbye... sheila cousins

In June, switchboard and estates, facilities and maintenance staff, bid a fond farewell and happy retirement to Sheila. With over 36 years’ service Sheila has seen changes and technological advances within telecommunications. The role of Switchboard Operator remains key to patient care especially the handling of emergency calls and Sheila always gave her best for her callers. Sheila is now gently easing into retirement …. within two weeks she was welcomed back …as a volunteer on the nearby Information Desk!

> Goodbye... Jean Polonijo

Jean started at Renal Unit Westcliff hospital under Dr Tomlinson nearly thirty years ago as a Trainee Renographer and went onto become a valued member of staff as a Senior Renographer at The Renal Unit at Southend Hospital.

She will be sadly missed by all the staff and the patients and the Unit all wish her well in the future.

> DATES FOR THE DIARY Sun 11 September – Foulness Island Bike Ride, hosted by Thorpe Bay Rotary. 11-23 mile bike ride around Foulness Island for a charity of choice. Sign up and ride for Southend Hospital: www.thorpebayrotaryevents.co.uk For further info on all events, contact the Fundraising Team on 01702 385337 or fundraising@southend.nhs.uk

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CLOSER LOOK This month we meet Susan Cornwell who - along with the entire Neptune children’s unit - was a 2015 Patients’ Choice winner.

Tell us about yourself?

I am the Paediatric Practice Educator for Neptune children’s unit. I am responsible for the education of all staff working within the paediatric directorate to ensure they receive the necessary annual training to meet the needs of the patients. I am also involved in the development of the HDU services within paediatrics which is ever evolving due to the changes in how we deliver care to children who are acutely unwell/deteriorating.

Does it still feel good to see the winners’ trophy on display almost 12 months down the line?

The whole Neptune team feel very proud of the achievement in winning this award. We are a very dedicated team who work tremendously hard all year round and it was fantastic to be recognised for this.

How did the nomination and win affect the team?

Winning this award has had a very positive impact on the team as it meant that our patients also recognise the hard work and dedication that we strive for every day. The Hospital Heroes awards let staff know they are appreciated and being recognised as going above and beyond their duties.

Why is it important to be voted for by the public?

It means that our care is benefiting both the patient and their families and that is why we are here every day. The patient is at the heart of everything we do. The recognition from the public has such a positive impact on the staff who are often working under huge pressures within the NHS. What interests do you have outside of work?

I’m currently completing my BSs Honours top up degree which takes up a lot of my free time. I also have two children and a patient husband who helps me juggle my busy life! I am also a Parent Governor for my children’s primary school which allows me the opportunity to break away from my nursing role for a while.

August 2016