The Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher, met Emergency Department staff on a behind-the-scenes tour at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.
He was also shown how a 60-patient virtual ward works.
“They are doing such wonderful work. It is a privilege to meet them and understand some of the joys and pressures of their jobs,” said Bishop Graham.
Senior matron Johnny Wells leads a team of 240 nurses who deal with emergencies round-the-clock – including major trauma victims coming in by air ambulance, as well as people arriving by ambulance and car.
They look after the 50 patients an hour who arrive at the Emergency Department of the county’s biggest hospital. “We have got a fantastic team,” said Johnny. “We want to care for patients as we would do our own family.”
He said one of the most challenging aspects of the job was finding beds on wards for patients – because of the difficulties around safely discharging people who no longer need acute hospital care.
Virtual Ward Sister, Claire Beard told the Bishop about the hospital’s Virtual Ward. It means 60 patients can return home to continue their hospital treatment – using high-tech kit which gives them immediate access to nursing staff and remotely monitors heart and respiratory rates, oxygen levels and blood pressure.
She said hospital was not necessarily the best place for many patients – who eat better and sleep better, are more mobile and less at risk of infections at home.
Bishop Graham talked to staff including nurses, an Emergency Department consultant and volunteers. He wished the team a happy Christmas – and an emergency nurse practitioner told him about some of the seasonal injuries they see, from falls while getting decorations down from the loft to wounds from over-enthusiastic prepping of the festive veg.
