Welcome to Hilary Garratt, Deputy Chief Nursing Officer and Sam Sherrington, Deputy Director – Community Nursing for England

On Friday 5 May the team welcomed Hilary Garratt, Deputy Chief Nursing Officer for England and Sam Sherrington, Deputy Director – Community Nursing for England, to St Catherine’s Health Centre.

Joined by Paula Simpson, Chief Nurse and Claire Wedge, Deputy Chief Nurse at WCHC, the visit was an opportunity to showcase and celebrate the high quality care and support teams deliver to people across Wirral, Cheshire East, St Helens and Knowsley.

Colleagues from the children and young people’s services, community and specialist nursing and the community integrated response team came together to welcome Hilary and Sam and talk about the amazing work that goes on across communities to support people to live well and independently. Guests heard how teams see and treat people both at home and close to home, ensuring essential care is provided to help prevent a visit to hospital.

The children and young people’s services also shared how they work with families to give littles ones the best possible start in life. From birth throughout school and beyond, children, young people and families receive the support they need to flourish and live healthy lives.

There was also a visit to the Community Cardiology Service where guests heard first hand from a cardiac rehabilitation patient about the wonderful care and support received as part of the recovery journey following major heart surgery.

As the morning drew to a close, nursing colleagues were presented with certificates to celebrate the completion of their Professional Nurse Advocate (PNA) training. The training provides nurses with the skills to facilitate restorative clinical supervision and support colleagues with their wellbeing.

Claire Wedge, Deputy Chief Nurse, said; “We were proud to welcome Hilary and Sam to the Trust. It was a wonderful opportunity to showcase the outstanding high quality care our services provide to the communities across Cheshire and Merseyside to the national team.

We are looking forward to facilitating similar visits in the future to shine a spotlight on Team WCHC’s incredible community based services.”

Claire Wedge, Deputy Chief Nurse (WCHC), Sam Sherrington, Deputy Director – Community Nursing for England, Lorraine Adams, Patient Safety Lead (WCHC)