NWANGLIAFT ACHIEVES COURSE CENTRE STATUS FOR LIFESAVING NEWBORN TRAINING

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust has become a training centre for the Newborn Life Support course for healthcare professionals.

The Newborn Life Support course is for all healthcare professionals who are involved in the care of a baby once delivered and is something that needs to be undertaken every four years. Previously staff have had to go externally to attend training but are now able to have this provided on site and the Trust are able to accept external applicants who may be closer to Peterborough or Hinchingbrooke than another training course.

Amie Thorpe, Clinical Educator, and Dr Philip Amato-Gauci, Paediatric Consultant, are both trained Newborn Life Support instructors and have been leading the project to get accreditation. The team had to go through the process of applying for course centre status through the Resuscitation Council UK where a course facilitator visited from Cambridge to work with the team, offering support and guidance.

Amie said: “We’re really pleased to have achieved course centre status; this has been over 2 years in the making due to the pandemic delaying everything. We couldn’t have done it without the support from the resus team, particularly Rob Perrott, Kim Stewart, and Anna Rushby, it has been a real team effort to drive this forward and I just want to say thank you to all involved.”

The first course was held at Hinchingbrooke back in November last year and was a huge success with a 100% pass rate in the airway test, congratulations to everyone.

Smoke Free Pregnancy Pathway launched to help pregnant women stop smoking

A new pathway has launched at Peterborough City and Hinchingbrooke hospital to help expectant mothers become smoke free. The new service offers support and Nicotine Replacement Therapy to expectant mothers who smoke to achieve a smoke free pregnancy.

The new Maternity Tobacco Dependency Service Team at Peterborough City and Hinchingbrooke Hospital consists of two Smoke Free Pregnancy Practitioners, Afolasade Oyewole and Sam Arts, working alongside Treating Tobacco Dependency Specialist Midwife, Debbie Garner. The team deliver the service in the community and work is currently underway to facilitate video consultations to provide more accessibility and give patients more choice on how they want to attend these appointments.

Nicola Griffin, Interim Head of Midwifery at Peterborough City Hospital, said: “We’re really pleased this service is available within our Trust, it means that we’re able to offer a more personalised quit plan with behavioural support, free Nicotine Replacement Therapy, and a friendly

Virtual Pregnancy and Pelvic Floor muscles webinar delivered by Women’s Health Physiotherapists

The Trust is working in collaboration with Cambridgeshire University Hospital to provide online webinars to expectant women, as part of a National Pelvic Health Initiative.

The webinar has been designed to cover the effect of pregnancy on the pelvic floor muscles and offers information and advice on how to care for your pelvic floor muscles both during pregnancy and after delivery.

advisor to maximise the opportunity to become smoke free and improve the future health of both mother and baby.”

The service works closely with the Local Authority Community Stop Smoking Service, Healthy You, and encourages referral of anyone within the family home who smoke as a positive way to support the woman on her smoke free journey. Work is currently being undertaken to facilitate video consultations in order to provide more accessibility and give patients more choice on how they want to attend these appointments.

Liezl Rossouw, Advanced Clinical Practitioner Physiotherapist for the Trust said: “The pelvic floor muscles are often overlooked for the important role they play in bladder and bowel health. Virtual information sessions can empower women with the necessary knowledge to have a healthy pelvic floor during pregnancy and beyond.”

These webinars are held the third Tuesday of each month from 1.30pm to 2.30pm.

New digital wound care service delivers faster patient service

An innovative new digital wound care management project to help patients with lower limb wounds has launched within the Trust.

The joint nurse-led pilot project that uses an app to auto-measure and analyse tissue types allows patients to upload images of their wounds to a secure portal where they can be assessed clinically.

The aim is to provide an opportunity for remote monitoring, earlier intervention, and better outcomes for patients through the rapid and accurate assessment of wounds as well as cutting down on administrative time.

Gail Curran, Vascular Nurse Specialist said: “The longerterm benefit of the app is the communication between primary and secondary care with instant access to patient wound care progress and concerns raised without having to wait for an appointment, but also being able to reduce the number of unnecessary follow up visits and outpatient appointments if a wound is obviously improving.”

The Trust is delivering the Minuteful for Wound wound care app and portal for its lower limb wound care team jointly with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) which has been successful in winning funding for the digital solution service.

Nurse looking at wound via the new app