written by Georgie Abbott
What do you think defines a productive and happy team of colleagues? This morning I had the privilege to spend some time with the Paediatric Cardiac Outpatients team at the Leeds General Infirmary and I’m sure all teams could learn something by the way they work seamlessly together.
Due to the current industrial action within the NHS, my preconceived thoughts meant I was expecting to find a team of nurses tired, over-worked and sadly looking for opportunities outside of the NHS…and I was thrilled to find the exact opposite!
One of the Cardiac Consultants initially left the department to retire and is now back working with the team as he told me he missed the contact with colleagues and patients.
Jo Fox, a Clinical Support Worker, who has been working at the Cardiac Outpatients department for over 12 years told me the team usually see 70 patients in a day and that this figure has grown by around 75% in the last decade.
Initially I thought this would mean the team would be rushing around without a moment to breathe for themselves, but because of their incredible teamwork, it meant that they have worked out ways to efficiently manage their workload and stagger their individual lunch breaks.
Outpatients is the part of a hospital designed for the treatment of people with health problems who visit the hospital for diagnosis or treatment, but do not at this time require to be admitted for care.
I asked each of the team what they enjoy most about their role and it was unanimous they love working in the cardiac outpatients because they enjoy watching their young patients grow from babies into adults, which gives them a unique opportunity to have consistency with the young heart families.
As the team are all long standing members of NHS staff, it was clear to see that the young patients feel at ease in the presence of the nurses familiar and friendly faces.
As well as the longevity of the team providing welcome familiarity to the patients I was also impressed with their knowledge about the complexity of cardiac conditions. Their receptionist, Catherine, who has been working in the team for over 15 years had a fountain of knowledge about heart surgery.
This enables her to go over and beyond her administration role, because she is able to offer reassurance and understanding to patient families when they need it.
She mentioned in particular she is able to put worried mums and dads at ease if they’ve been told their child is born with a heart murmur.
Children’s Heart Surgery Fund recently funded new artwork and distraction equipment for multiple rooms in the department, to help young patients stay still during their ECHO scans so their cardiac consultant can get the best possible 3D images of their heart.
However, there is always a need to provide more support and currently the paediatric consultant rooms are also in need of new child friendly artwork and distraction toys.
If you or your business would be interested to work together to help CHSF continue supporting our Cardiac Outpatients team I would love to hear from you at georgie.abbott@chsf.org.uk
Georgie Abbott
Corporate Partnerships Manager
georgie.abbott@chsf.org.uk
Recruiting Corporate Partners across Yorkshire, The Humber, North East Lincolnshire and North Derbyshire who want to help improve the lives of children born with congenital heart defects.
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