Innovation has been at the heart of healthcare ever since the NHS was founded in 1948. Pioneered in 1949, using an artificial lens to repair cataracts was one of the earliest with the first total hip replacement done at Wrightington, near Wigan, in 1962. Today, at Blackpool’s Clifton Hospital, a new approach to the diagnosis… Continue Reading Cancer care innovation wins dermatology team award
Basic life support is a skill everyone who works for Blackpool Teaching Hospitals needs to know – and it’s Sharon Ellis and her team’s job to teach them. Senior Resuscitation Officer Sharon has worked for the Trust for 22 years after training as a nurse in the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps. She was… Continue Reading World looks to NHS, says ex-Army nurse teaching lifesaving skills
14 May 2023 is ODP Day when we celebrate our Operating Department Practitioners and raise awareness of this essential role within healthcare. This year the theme is ‘Advancing the Profession’. Here at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals (BTH), we’re proud to share the achievements and growth of our ODPs. Emma is an ODP currently working in Research… Continue Reading ‘A wonderful career’ – celebrating our Operating Department Practitioners
The dusty, leather-bound volume could be a Book of Spells straight from Harry Potter. In fact, the gold-embossed, red ledger is the Casualty Register for the Victoria Hospital, Blackpool. It was unearthed by the hospital library and the first of 8,000 entries was made on 5 July 1928, 20 years to the day before the… Continue Reading Casualty register opens book on 1928 hospital patients
Louise Dowell is proof that anything’s possible in nursing as we celebrated International Nurses Day and she looks forward to retirement next month. The international celebration marks the birthday of Florence Nightingale who founded what we consider today to be modern nursing while a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, nearly 100… Continue Reading Nursing was world of opportunity for Louise
International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every May 12 on the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. The theme this year is Our Nurses. Our Future which will examine what is required for nursing in the future in order to address the global health challenges and improve global health for everyone. Over the course… Continue Reading ‘Changing things for the better’ – celebrating International Nurses Day
These were some of the first nurses to serve in the NHS, according to Zena Bradshaw who is a Cardiology Research Nurse at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals. She knows that because this lovely post-war photograph taken at Fleetwood Hospital is where Zena’s grandmother, Babara Bradshaw, worked. She’s far right on the middle row in glasses. Babara… Continue Reading Wartime Fleetwood nurse started family NHS tradition
May is Stroke Awareness Month in the UK, raising awareness of the symptoms and the importance of acting quickly when you spot one of the signs. Stroke is one of the leading causes of adult disability in the UK, and two-thirds of people who survive find themselves living with a disability. The NHS in Lancashire… Continue Reading Awareness campaign urges people to ‘act F.A.S.T.’ to improve stroke outcomes
Visiting relatives in hospital as a child was the spark that led Andrea Goodey to choose a career in nursing. “I visited Blackpool hospital a lot when I was young,” she said. “The nurses were so kind and used to show me things – and I thought this is what I want to do.” Andrea… Continue Reading ‘If it wasn’t for the NHS I wouldn’t be here’ says nurse
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals Chief Executive Trish Armstrong-Child has spoken of her pride in the NHS in the countdown to the 75th birthday of the service on Wednesday 5 July. BTH is marking the anniversary by sharing the stories from patients, colleagues and former staff, moments from our history and pictures from the archives over… Continue Reading Joining NHS as nurse ‘best thing that ever happened to me’, says hospital chief