Hospital Heroes – December 2019 (Pt.2)

At the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth, we take huge pride in the amazing work of our team and their dedication to our mantra: Putting People First.

We have over 570 people working for us across 41 departments and consider each and every one integral to the smooth running of the hospital. In the coming months, we’ll be meeting lots of them for a quick chat about what their work entails, why they enjoy it and what it is that appeals to them about caring for patients.

Be sure to follow the hospital’s Instagram account (@hospitalofstjohnsteliz) for our latest portraits and keep an eye on the hospital website for a monthly round-up.

Joy Lambert, Senior Staff Nurse, Outpatients & Pre-Operative Assessment

I’ve been here for seven years; I’m part of the pre-admission team. Part of our function is to optimise patients for surgery so that they have the best outcome and that they recover very well.

The aim is to give them a better understanding and to increase their awareness of what to expect. It’s very rewarding to see patients who’ve had their surgery coming back to the clinic healthy and pain-free, enjoying a better quality of life.

Katherine Lewis, Pediatric Advanced Nurse Practitioner

I started here as a temporary bank nurse in 2008 and then I stayed and took a full-time role in 2011. I love the family feel of it and the fact that we know the patients. I love the fact that they come back. I love the fact that they know me by name and that I know them by name. They can call me if they have a question, not only to book appointments. It’s a friendly, family feel.

I’m child safeguarding lead for across the hospital. I support the paediatricians in their clinics seeing the children. I also see children in my own clinic for acute and minor injury, illness and vaccinations. We’re quite a small group; there are six paediatricians here and a team of three nurses, but we’ve known a lot of the kids that have come here since they were born. Some of them were actually born here, and some are now taller than me! It makes for a nice community feel.

Children develop phobias so easily. They need to be in an environment where they feel safe, supported and looked after. So do the parents. It’s a difficult time being a new parent, you venture completely into the unknown when you have a child, so you need to know that you have people around you who can offer sound, sensible, trustworthy advice. That’s what we do here. We all work together to make sure that’s offered to the patients right the way through the week. Not just when it’s one consultant or when I’m here. Because we’re a small team we have the ability to communicate and to offer that service all of the time

We give the parents the knowledge so that they don’t need to worry. It’s the same as phobias, you’re worrying about the unknown. Your child is the most precious thing in the universe to you, so you’re going to worry when confronted by something you don’t understand because you’re not a medic. You need somebody to explain it to you. Children get temperatures, they get more infections. It’s ok, we’re here if you need us and we can advise on what to look for. We’ll be here if anything happens.

Kathija Noormahomed, Lead Mammographer

When I started I was a general radiographer; I’ve worked my way up and now I’m in charge of the mammography department. As a department, we offer a well-rounded imaging service, encompassing CT/MR, mammography, general radiography, fluorography and recently, we’ve included pet scans – we’re only one of two hospitals in London that offer that!

Working here was an opportunity; an opportunity to grow, to progress and to be part of a team and part of a family. Individually we can do so little but together we can do so much.

The patients are the centre of our focus, they are part of all that we do. We want to deliver our service with competence, confidence, dedication, commitment and excellence.

I tell people this is my happy place. It’s so important to look forward to coming to work, after all I spend most of my time here.

Keep checking back each month for more updates in our Hospital Heroes series.