New wellbeing role launched

Five nurses from Aintree’s Critical Care department have successfully qualified in a brand-new wellbeing role which will help them to further support their colleagues.

Angharad Williams, Debbie Murphy, Katini Krichena, Priya Bhowmick and Mandy Murray were among 436 critical care nurses across the country who underwent Masters level assessments as part of a new NHS England programme to qualify as Professional Nurse Advocates (PNA).

The PNA role launched following the COVID-19 pandemic, and aims to reduce staff stress, burn out and turnover, by addressing the root cause of issues for an individual. The training has equipped them to understand the demands of their role and how to provide wellbeing advice to colleagues, developing skills of leadership and quality improvement along the way.

The team at Aintree have recently hosted a number of wellbeing events including an international buffet, and bank holiday breakfasts and raffles to help promote their role and bring staff together to encourage them to talk and share experiences.

Katini, who was one of the Trust’s first PNAs to qualify, said: “The PNA program has provided us with an insight on how to respond to ongoing challenges. With the support of my fellow PNAs, I have hosted sessions for our new internationally recruited nurses to help minimise the difficulties they may face whilst adjusting to a new country and working environment. To support this, the PNA Team have successfully produced a communication guide which staff can easily access through our bedside resource file.”

The team are looking to expand across all sites so that they are able to facilitate more sessions and help staff to improve their worklife balance. Katini continued: “We want to encourage more colleagues to train so that we can provide more wellbeing and mental health support, advice on career conversion and help for quality improvement projects that will result in better patient care.”

If you have studied at Level 6 or above and would like put yourself forward for PNA training, please contact Sophie.King@ liverpoolft.nhs.uk or Kim.Romero@liverpoolft.nhs.uk.

To access support from the PNA Team, please scan this QR code and complete the online form:

The five nurses, who joined the Trust at the end of February, come from a range of backgrounds and bring with them a vast amount of experience. Emma Nunan, Jane Green, Alison Hassall, Lisa McVey and Kate Baxter all participated in a bespoke training course provided by teams across the Trust; including Bereavement, Learning Disabilities, Chaplaincy, PALS, Specialist Palliative Care and Organ/tissue donation, as well as the Liverpool City Mortuary and coronial services.

The team are now available across sites and in the wider community to ensure that individual wishes are carried out and to assist staff in making memories for patients and their families. The nurses provide specialist guidance to newly bereaved families including supporting those who may be going through an inquest process dealing with the unexpected death of a loved-one. The team are also on-hand to support staff who may be dealing with grief by working closely with the Trust’s Occupational Health and Wellbeing Team.

Maria Guerin, SWAN Quality Matron, said: “The SWAN Model of Care empowers staff of any discipline to be able to provide true individualised care; it enables outside the box nursing by breaking rules that don't exist. We only have one chance to get it right with every patient. The new team will assist in enabling all staff in the organisation to implement an already proven model that I'm privileged to be leading on at LUFHT.”

The SWAN Team can be contacted via email on swan@liverpoolft.nhs.uk.