After reaching the one year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic, we are highlighting how our community hospital in St Annes, Clifton Hospital, has dealt with the pressures over the past 12 months in a new short series…
Courtney Bickerdike has been the Clinical Matron at Clifton for 11 years.
She said: “Clifton has dealt with Covid positive patients in the past year, so it’s been a really big change for the staff.
“The medical needs of the patients we have cared for have changed slightly over the past year but all credit to ours teams who have adapted to help deliver End of Life care, support for those with complex health needs and acute care.
“Most of our wards have signed up to Quality Improvement projects which has really helped make a difference. We have also recently welcomed Clifton’s first ever Practise Development Sister and she could not have come at a better time as she can provide help and support for our new adaptation nurses..
“We have also welcomed two new ward managers; Sophie Pendleton and Suzanne Scholtz, who bring with them a wealth of knowledge from their previous roles.
“At the moment, Clifton doesn’t feel the same as it did before Covid. All of the day rooms are closed to patients and we have had to temporarily suspend our many patient activities such as armchair Zumba, exercise classes, Carers’ Café, Pets As Therapy dog visits and our usual fairs. But, I know we are all looking forward to reinstating these and getting back to normality.
“We have had a lot of changes going on in the background like embedding the Home First ethos, following specific pathways, bed remodelling and a dedicated referral system.
“As a team, everyone has really pulled together and have had to learn and adapt under very challenging circumstances and despite this, our discharges have remained high.
“I’m really proud of the team and I know how hard it has been. Despite this, people still manage to have fun with the patients and staff regularly come to me with improvement ideas which shows their continued dedication despite recent pressures.”