"We must never stop believing that beautiful things can happen even in times of chaos" - our staff stories: Colleen, Auxiliary Nurse
Colleen is a General Surgery and Gastroenterology Auxiliary Nurse as well as a Shared Governance Chair for her ward.
Colleen has been at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) for 11 years, and has told us her story and experience over the last nine months or so.
Talking of how Covid-19 has impacted her role at NUH, she says:
"I have seen exceptionally clean areas and more productivity throughout the pandemic which has made NUH great to work in. Colleagues around the campuses have grown stronger in their teams making a good workforce, which is great to see."
Staff are being recognised more for their great hard work which is important for our mental health feeling valued in contributing running a good health care system. I have great respect for ward managers around the trust for their endless efforts and positivity to keep their staff and patients safe.
Speaking of her family life, she says:
"Covid-19 has been difficult, but it has given my home life the gift of making the family do more things together.".
Colleen also supports teaching in primary schools, and says:
"Juggling nursing in NUH and support teaching in primary schools has given me a great opportunity to be a role model and share good hand hygiene. I feel like I am doing my part to help with Covid-19."
Talking of the key learnings from Covid-19, Colleen describes her role as a Shared Governance Chair. At NUH, Shared Governance means staff having collective ownership to develop and improve practice; ensuring patients receive caring, safe and confident care. It places staff at the centre of the decision making process and sees managers having a facilitative leadership role. You can read more about it here.
"Covid-19 has opened doors to my Shared Governance Chair role, to use initiative to work through important projects and to present group decisions from ward level. One of the wards projects I am working on is revised hospital gowns, with a developed prototype to trial on surgical wards. This is a perfect example of learning and developing through the pandemic to bring great initiative from teams forward that will make a positive impact on workload and patient care throughout NUH."
"If I could go back and tell my last-year's self something now, I would say 'we must never stop believing that beautiful things can happen even in times of chaos'. My message to the people of Nottinghamshire is that great things can happen even through hard times, and my message to my NUH colleagues is that we are a great Trust, keep sharing the great teamwork our divisions are achieving."