SPOTLIGHT: REFLECTIONS CELEBRATING


In 2007, Charing Cross, Hammersmith, Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea, St Mary’s and the Western Eye hospitals came together to form one Trust. The Trust joined forces with Imperial College London to become the UK’s first academic health science centre. Ten years on, we now employ 10,970 people, but what does our tenth birthday mean to staff? We asked colleagues across the Trust to tell us about achievements that mattered to them and what they see as the biggest challenges going forward.


I started at the Trust as a student midwife about 10 years ago. It certainly feels like we’re seeing more women in our service now – we used to have quiet spells, but now things never seem to slow down! I also think we’ve changed the way we work with women. We’ve evolved to a more holistic way of working where we’re really in a partnership with women who come to us to have their babies. The women we see are much more involved and engaged in their care – they’re not afraid to ask questions or challenge us if they don’t understand what we’re doing, which is wonderful.


In the years to come, I expect our greatest challenges will be our ever- climbing birth rate, and looking after the growing number of women with obesity and diabetes, as their pregnancies tend to be more complex.”


Mandie O’Loughlin,


midwife, Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital


I think the Trust’s biggest


achievement in the last 10 years is getting positive results from the friends and family test. The two big challenges are the increasing number of emergency patients and admissions, especially with the increased financial and capacity pressures


on our services and our ageing population. And of course, the outdated building infrastructure at St Mary’s.”


Linda Batten, ward manager, Witherow ward, St Mary’s Hospital


At Charing Cross we are now


providing a thrombectomy service, which is life-changing for stroke patients. If a patient has a particular kind of stroke and they are seen within six hours, they can


have a thrombectomy, where surgeons use a wire to pull out the clot causing the stroke. Soon we’ll be providing this service 24/7 which is a huge achievement.”


Alvi Ajdini, senior radiographer, Charing Cross Hospital


Some of the biggest


achievements here have been the investment in clinical nurse specialists, the restructuring of cancer services and clinical nurse specialist teams, and our successful partnership with Macmillan.


By creating new clinical nurse specialist roles, nurses have more opportunities to progress their career, which has helped us to retain staff and provide greater stability to our teams.


Gill Brisley, lead clinical nurse specialist, Hammersmith Hospital


6 /Pulse


In recent years the way elderly medicine is perceived at the Trust and in the wider NHS has improved a lot. There’s now more resource put into elderly medicine and emphasis on how much we can do for older people to keep them healthy and active. From my perspective, the biggest challenge we face in the future is our ageing population. The sheer volume of older people is increasing as people live longer, so there’s going to be more people requiring more assistance from healthcare services.”


Gavin Belson, OPAL charge nurse, Charing Cross Hospital


www.imperial.nhs.uk


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