“The team in Theatres is like an extended family. We have so many fabulous people working at ELHT who I am fortunate to work with on a daily basis.”
Nicola Tingle has worked for the NHS since 1990. Starting as an Auxiliary Nurse at Clitheroe Hospital she trained as a nurse in Liverpool before working in general theatres at the former Blackburn Royal Infirmary as a scrub nurse. Since 2018 she has been the Team Manager/Senior Sister for Theatres at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital.
She said:
Since primary school I had always wanted to be a nurse. I trained at Liverpool and had the invaluable experience of working my placements at well-established institutes such as Whiston Hospital, Broadgreen Hospital, Royal Liverpool (which was brand new at the time) and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.
Once qualified in 1997 I came to work in general theatres at the then Blackburn Royal Infirmary. I wanted to work for my local trust. It was important for me to be able to see first-hand what the Trust had to offer in case any of my family or friends needed treatment.
Back then, we had three general theatres and ran one emergency theatre every afternoon during the week – how things have changed over the years!
Not only did I experience the move from the Infirmary to the new Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital, now we have one dedicated theatre emergency list which runs 24 hours, seven days a week and share emergencies with other theatres if they have a case cancelled.
We have so many fantastic theatre staff and clinicians here at ELHT that I couldn’t imagine ever working anywhere else that could come close. I love my team and my manager is very supportive.
Theatre is specialised and takes a certain type of person to work in it. We are lucky to have such a diverse range of colleagues working together which means our patients are very well cared for by a wonderful team.
At ELHT everybody looks out for each other and if there is an emergency everybody gets involved and helps out. You're never alone and we truly are a family.