Welcome to Nursing & Midwifery at the West Suffolk Hospital
DIRECTORATE OF NURSING AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS
Introduction
This leaflet outlines the achievements and aspirations of nursing and midwifery staff employed at the West Suffolk Hospitals Trust. As a trust offering a range of full acute services there are significant opportunities to be involved in service developments and to meet individual development needs, and a flavour of what is on offer is identified here. There is partnership working with the local community services which are provided locally by Local Health Partnerships Community Trust and Primary Care Trusts.
We are also fully committed to working in partnership with local universities and colleges to provide an effective continuous professional framework incorporating theoretical learning with practical experience.
The West Suffolk Hospital
Nurses and midwives are the largest staff group within the trust
Breakdown of staff groups:
Nursing and Midwifery 49%
Medical and Dental 9.5%
Professions allied to medicine 6%
Technical and Scientific professionals 9.5%
Ancillary staff 8%
Administrative and clerical 17%
Senior Managers 1%
And there are a wide range of resources to support new staff joining the trust to encourage interprofessional working to meet our patients health care needs. This includes mentorship, preceptorship and clinical supervision
Keeping abreast of change
The Trust aims to support Life Long Learning. It is a key requirement for our professions as the nature of health care is a dynamic one. The combined effects of the research undertaken by medical, nursing, midwifery, pharmaceutical, scientific and other disciplines has a transformational impact on the work we do; on almost a daily basis.
Keeping a professional portfolio to demonstrate your on-going learning and how this applies in practice provides an excellent source of learning and any form in which learning occurs is well supported by excellent library resources including internet access. There are many educational options which staff can access including diploma and degree level modules/ courses, and a wide-ranging in-service programme.
Nursing and Midwifery involves 24 hours a day, 365 days a year practice in the majority of settings, but we work hard to ensure that staff are able to get a suitable work/ home balance. Where service delivery allows we aim to offer flexible working opportunities.
An overview of the range of clinical areas within the Trust
Although the list of clinical areas can only give you a taste of the nursing and midwifery opportunities for clinical practice are available within the Trust the relevant Operational Manager/ Ward Manager would be happy to give greater detail, so do not hesitate to ask.
Medical Services
Emergency Assessment Unit (EAU). Most adult patients (not all, as it is not a 24 hour service) are assessed in this unit prior to being transferred to a ward appropriate to their specific need. EAU has 12 beds.
Ward F7/ Keats : 35 beds, Acute Adult Medicine with Diabetology
Ward F8/ Byron: 35 beds, Acute Adult Medicine with Gastroenterology
Ward G3 /Beyton: 33 beds, Acute Adult Medicine including 12 Acute Stroke Management beds
Ward G4 / Culford: 33 beds, Acute Adult Medicine with Rheumatology
Ward G5 / Denham: 33 beds, Acute Adult Medicine
Ward F10/ Kipling: 21 beds, is a ‘winter ward’ which supports our services during heightened winter activity. F10 is a pre-discharge unit providing care for medically stable patients who have complex discharge planning requirements.
Ward G1/ Hardwick: 11 beds, provides Adult Oncology / Haematology care. Day Unit attached.
Wards G2 /Ampton: 28 beds, Acute Adult Respiratory Medicine
Wards G6/Elmswell 8 orthopaedic rehabilitation beds
G7 Fornham : 12 beds dedicated to the rehabilitation of stroke patients. G6 and G7 provide a total of 66 beds and G7 links with the Joyce Cockram Day Unit .
Genito-urinary Unit (GUM) provides an out-patient service and advice for in-patients.
Cardiac Care Unit (CCU): 6 beds, provides specialist medical and nursing for patients with cardiac conditions.
Walnuttree Hospital (Sudbury) provides care on 4 wards. 18 beds accommodate adults admitted and cared for by their General Practitioner. The other wards are specifically for elderly patients under the care of a Consultant ; A2 (16 beds) B1/2 (18 beds) and C1/2 (16 beds).
Children’s Services are provided in the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) which has 12 cots for neonates of 28 weeks gestation and above and Rainbow Children’s Unit. F1/ Rainbow has a total of 26 beds/cots and provides care for all children up to 16 years. Children’s Out-patients is provided separate to adult services and there is a shared-care service for paediatric oncology and cardiology, linking with Regional Centres
Surgical Services
The Accident and Emergency Unit assesses and treats all emergency admissions except GP referrals.
Wards F3/ Masefield and F4 /Milton, 34 beds each, provide Orthopaedic and Trauma services
Wards F5 /Hardy and F6/ Blake, 35 beds each, provide General Surgery/Colorectal and Urology services
Ward F9/ Eliot has 33 beds and cares for women requiring Breast, Urology and Gynaecological Surgery
Ward F14 has 11 beds and a day care area which provides ENT and Ophthalmology Surgery, and other surgical specialities when required.
Main Theatres has 7 theatre suites including obstetric services and a second ultraclean 8th theatre currently under construction.
The Recovery Unit assesses, monitors and cares for post-operative patients with 24 hour stay recovery for patients requiring level I critical care.
The Day Surgery Unit (DSU) has 3 theatres plus a visiting mobile operating unit 2 days a week.
An Endoscopy Suite provides investigative procedures for upper and lower gastrointestinal tract and urology services.
Intensive care Unit (ITU) has 7 beds providing critical care at level III.
High Dependency Unit has 4 beds, soon to be 5, providing critical care at level II sited on the Emergency Assessment Unit in a designated bay.
Midwifery Services
This service incorporates community provision.
Ante-natal Clinics (ANC) are provided in the Community and at the West Suffolk and Newmarket Hospitals, and the ante-natal assessment unit (AAU) is attached to the ANC.
Ward F11 / Shelley provides both ante-natal and post-natal in-patient care and a transitional care service meeting the needs of women with infants requiring special care.
Central delivery Suite (CDS)
Blackbourn Midwifery Group is a new service provided by midwives who have a case load and provide total care for women including delivering their baby at the hospital or at home, according to the mothers’ wishes. The long term aim is to extend this facility within our catchment area by creating additional teams.
Out-Patient Departments
There is a wide range of clinics running within the Out- Patient departments
Leading the Direction of Nursing & Midwifery at the West Suffolk Hospitals
Our professional lead is our Director of Nursing, Quality and Community Relations; Ms Nichole Day. Jayne Holmes and Lynne Wigens (Assistant Directors), focus on Quality and Education issues respectively. Most of our Operational Managers are nurses or midwives and they manage an aspect of the acute service in a tri-partite way with a general manager and medical lead.
There are a wide range of nursing and midwifery roles within the directorates including Nurse Specialists, Nurse Practitioners, and Practice Educators. Nurses at the West Suffolk Hospitals are taking up every opportunity to enhance their contribution to health care.
The Department of Health document making a Difference (1999) states that:
"The context of care is changing. A new strategy is needed to help nurses midwives and health visitors respond to changes in society and in patterns of disease ……increasing public expectations and a challenging policy agenda"
The West Suffolk Nursing and Midwifery strategy has been developed and sets out the framework to take forward the practice and professions of nursing and midwifery over the next two years. Delivery of a high quality nursing and midwifery service which incorporates partnership working between ourselves, our patients, our clients and other health carers is central to this. It was developed in conjunction with the members of the shared governance councils which have created the opportunity for individuals from all levels of nursing and midwifery to be empowered and involved in determining the strategic direction within the Trust. A full copy of the nursing and Midwifery strategy can be obtained from the Directorate of Nursing and Community Relations.
We hope that you will choose to come and join us at the West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust.
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