Nurse consultants for the West Suffolk Hospital

23 November 2000

The West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust has been given the green light to appoint two nurse consultants in Dermatology and Respiratory Services as part of the national commitment to have 1,000 Nurse Consultants in posts by 2004.

Health Minister Lord Philip Hunt announced today an additional 22 new Nurse Consultant posts for the Eastern Region on top of the 13 already in post or in the process of being appointed.

Lord Hunt was speaking at the Nursing, Midwifery & Health Visiting Conference in London about the implementation of the most comprehensive leadership strategy ever for the nursing, midwifery and health visiting professions as part of the transformation of the NHS.

The strategy allows front-line nurses, midwives and health visitors to build upon their leadership skills and help develop a new NHS for the 21st Century.

Lord Hunt said: "Good clinical leadership is central to the delivery of the NHS Plan. We need leaders who are willing to embrace and drive through the radical transformation in services that the NHS requires."

Ms Nichole Day Director of Nursing and Community Relations for the trust said: "This is excellent news for patients in west Suffolk and the local nursing profession.

'The Nurse Consultants will make a real difference to patient care by improving access to services, raising standards of care, helping to reduce waiting times and leading developments with partner agencies.

"Experts in their field, they will be able to improve quality and services in the NHS by 'developing and implementing effective evidence-based standards and leading new and innovative ways of delivery.

"Professionally the introduction of Nurse Consultants has provided a new career opportunity to help retain experienced and expert nurses in clinical practice and to strengthen professional leadership. This is good news for staff retention and recruitment," she said.

The Dermatology Nurse Consultant will be responsible for managing certain groups of patients reducing pressure on the Consultant Dermatologist. This will give the Consultant more time to see people with complex skin problems and significantly reduce patient waiting times.

By working to integrate community and hospital services the Dermatology Nurse Consultant will take the specialist service into GP practices. This will be supported by a programme of education and training for GPs and practice nurses to broaden still further the spectrum of patients receiving the service.

The Nurse Consultant in Respiratory medicine will complement and support the three Consultant Chest Physicians and focus on patients with severe asthma and respiratory problems.

The aim is to improve the patient's experience of their journey from community care to hospital care and timely and safe discharge of patients from hospital. This will involve working across organizational boundaries with multi-professional staff in primary care and providing advice to patients and their family and support groups.

The Nurse Consultant will develop a new initiative which is being piloted this winter for patients experiencing severe respiratory problems. An Acute Respiratory Team (ART) comprising two respiratory clinical nurse specialists, will be operational from December 2000.

Following an assessment on the ward by the ART appropriate patients will be discharged from hospital to the care of the nurse specialists at home after just one or two days rather than the usual f 2 to 14 days. This initiative minimises the disruption of a patient's life caused by hospitalisation, improves the quality of patient care and releases beds for emergency medical admissions.

Notes:

The Nurse Consultant posts were introduced in 1999 to provide a new career opportunity to help retain experienced and expert nurses and to strengthen clinical practice, improving quality and services in the NHS.

Health Minister Lord Philip Hunt announced today an additional 219 new Nurse Consultant posts on top of the 232 already in post or in the process of being appointed.