East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust was delighted to host Deputy Chief Nursing Officer for NHS England and Improvement, Hilary Garratt CBE, BSc, MSc, RGN, SCPHN (RHV), PGCE, last week.
Hilary visited the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital site on 4 December to meet with Chief Nurse and Executive Director of Nursing, Chris Pearson, and other senior nursing colleagues, to get an insight in to the challenges our staff have experienced whilst working through the pandemic. She was given a tour of our new Acute Medical Unit and several clinical wards, as well as observing a support session at our Spiritual Care Centre, led by Hospital Chaplain, David Anderson and Jasper the Therapy Dog.
“I was so pleased to visit ELHT and find out more about what’s being done to support staff here”, said Hilary.
“I was really impressed by the way the support session provided a safe space to talk, which is so important. Staff could share the huge emotional impact of working through the pandemic, with support from an amazing pastoral team and of course, Jasper the Therapy Dog!”
Chris Pearson, Chief Nurse and Executive Director of Nursing at ELHT, said: “We were delighted to welcome Hilary to Royal Blackburn and show her how we’re supporting our ELHT family in such challenging circumstances.”
“We’re looking forward to hosting her again in the future, where she’ll be able to see how far we’ve come and what lessons we’ve learned from these unprecedented times.”
Cath Randall, Deputy Head of Safeguarding for NHS England and Improvement, was deployed at ELHT nine months ago. She said: “It is an honour to have been part of such a special journey over the last nine months working at ELHT, working with the Chaplaincy Team, staff, patients and families. It’s fantastic that Conversations with Jasper is now of paramount importance for the health and wellbeing of our staff.”
