Welcome to the Nursing and Midwifery
section of the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
website.
The Trust is consistently a top
performer in a variety of health care ratings and, as a Trust, we
are committed to exceed our patients’ expectations.
A significant factor in our achievements has been the
contribution that nursing and midwifery teams have made to
change and doing things differently for the benefit of
patients.
In 2006 we agreed our nursing and midwifery
strategy and key aims until 2009. The strategy focuses on 'Striving
for Excellence – Inspiring Confidence in Care'. Our main goal
is for all patients who come to our services to feel confident
about the nursing and midwifery care they receive.
We have implemented the ‘Saving Lives
Programme’ to reduce the risk of hospital acquired infections and
the 'Surviving Sepsis' campaign to ensure that every patient
admitted with a severe infection receives the best care possible.
We have also put measures in place to help ward managers measure
the quality of the care they and their staff provide. A very
exciting project is underway to introduce a computerised software
system called Vital Pac, which records, stores, and analyses
patients’ vital signs, enabling nurses and clinicians to
monitor the condition of their patients throughout a hospital
stay.
Matrons
All our senior nursing teams will soon be in new uniforms to
emphasise their visibility to both the public and patients. The
divisional matron and department matrons are key roles in this
structure. Their roles specifically relate to quality, and ensure
that the process for monitoring standards of care is robust and
sustained and that a proactive approach is in place to take the
actions required to improve aspects of care
when necessary.
We were very proud that in the Spring, our ward sisters and
senior nurses won a national ‘Nursing Times’ Leadership
Challenge. The challenge provided an innovative way of
developing leadership skills and gaining insights into
collaborative working. To succeed, participants had to juggle
competing demands and use all their leadership skills and
abilities.
These are exciting times at the
Royal Berkshire Hospital as we take practice forward. If you have
any comments, suggestions or opinions about nursing and midwifery
that you wish to share, contact our Chief Nurse using the contact
details on the right hand side of this page.
Useful Contacts
Chief Nurse
Royal Berkshire
NHS Foundation Trust
London Road
Reading
RG1 5AN
0118 322 7445