NURS ING L EADERSHI P
and we make sure that orthopaedic patient rooms are an appropriate size to enable mobilisation – even the ergonomics of the furniture have been designed to help ensure the best possible outcomes.
In fact, Nuffield Health’s nursing team have been actively involved with the design of the new hospital, working with architects and designers to optimise the environment. This is because of a policy introduced during the build of Nuffield Health’s Cambridge Hospital that opened in 2015 and subsequently became the first independent hospital in the UK to achieve an “outstanding” rating from the Care Quality Commission.
The design of any new hospital must consider the interaction between patients, clinicians and visitors, along with supplies and equipment. Listening to the nurse and clinician perspective of how best to accommodate these interactions ensures high-quality, safe care.
Q. How do you plan to ensure effective team working? A. From day one, we will encourage team working across disciplines. Multi-disciplinary working is essential for the best outcomes and we do this really well at Nuffield Health. We have daily multi-disciplinary team (MDT) meetings and ensure our daily ward rounds are attended by our physiotherapy teams, pharmacy teams, nutritional support therapists, as well as our nursing teams, so we are encouraging our clinical teams to really collaborate. MDTs meet before a patient has their surgery, so everyone knows about the patient, plans their care and then implements it. It is vital to avoid working in silos and to ensure the patient care experience and pathway are ‘joined up’. We have a fairly flat hierarchical structure within our nursing teams and this is another important factor. Although I’m the director of nursing at the hospital, I use the term ‘Matron’ in my title; ‘Matron’ is that visible
person who is on the ‘shop floor’, where care is being delivered, and encouraging nurses to speak up if they feel that something isn’t safe. Matron is often the one that says: “we are not starting the surgery, because the nurses feel that all elements of the safer surgery process have not been completed”. The theatre manager reports directly to me and I make sure I am very accessible. I get changed and go into theatre and make sure I’m present for some of the ‘Time Outs’. I ask nurses: “what worries you?” I take this feedback to our quality board to enable change to happen.
Sometimes, executive level nurses can remove themselves from the clinical environment. However, by being the conduit between nurses working in the theatre environment for example, and the quality board, I can make sure any concerns are listened to and action is taken.
Q. How will Nuffield Health deal with the challenges posed by COVID-19? A. Nuffield Health’s hospitals across the UK treated over 375,000 NHS patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. We were quick to respond and support the NHS. If we have another surge, we will be ready to step up once again. We were also very quick to implement robust IP&C measures to protect patients and staff. All of our hospital staff have access to testing, with twice weekly lateral flow testing.
This was available throughout the first waves of the pandemic and we will continue to offer and encourage this. It enables us to respond very quickly if a staff member needs to self-isolate, to protect our patients. In terms of the patient pathway, we screen patients before they come to hospital and when they come to surgery, and they are asked to self- isolate before and after surgery. We are also asking our staff to take up the vaccine. I was very proud that, as a nurse, I was able to return to the NHS for a period of time to help with the vaccine roll-out and on ICUs. It was a unique opportunity to play my
part and make a difference, but it also gave me a unique insight.
Q. How will you support the wellbeing of nurses? A. What I heard and saw during my redeployment was that nurses were very tired; I witnessed nurses crying at the end of their shift because it was so tough. I asked them “what would make a difference?” It was having access to talk to someone, to have professional support, to give them the emotional skills to cope with being a nurse. I have learnt from this experience so, at Nuffield Health, we ensure we give our nurses this support. At the new hospital, I will be implementing wellbeing champions. They will be very visible and will attend nursing handovers, walk the floor and spend time with the nurses to pick up the signs that staff members may be becoming tired or stressed. They are trained in ‘mental first aid’ and take preventative action to sign post nurses to a platform of emotional wellbeing support, cognitive behavioural therapy and psychologists – free of charge. They also make sure our nurses have access to Nuffield Health’s ‘MOTs’, as well as access to diet and exercise plans.
Nuffield Health provides a comprehensive benefits package to all of its employees, giving them access to its fitness and wellbeing centres free of charge. It is more than just a gym. You can also use the spa facilities to unwind at the end of a shift. I think this makes a big difference. Ultimately, we are building a healthier nurse, to make sure we retain the nursing workforce and that patients get the best possible care.
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CSJ SEPTEMBER 2021
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