Annabel Kane
February 2019
Annabel
Kane
,
RN
Papplewick Ward
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
Nottingham
United Kingdom

 

 

 

We had a patient (Mr. A) in his early 20s who was admitted to cardiology following an out of hospital cardiac arrest. This gentleman was studying at University in Nottingham when he collapsed and subsequently unfortunately now suffers from severe hypoxic brain injury.
During his stay he moved initially from Critical Care to ACU and for the majority of his stay in our Trust was on Papplewick ward. Mr. A had a huge amount of complicated care needs which the staff managed exceptionally.
As you can imagine the impact of the events surrounding Mr. A's diagnosis and future care requirements - much of this support was managed by the Ward Sister Annabel. Understandably, the family found the entire situation distressing. This often translated into difficulties and emotional responses from his next of kin. During these challenging times, Annabel continually supported both the nursing staff and the family to ensure that Mr. A's care was of the highest quality and that regardless of the emotions associated, the family was fully supported and that the nurses felt listened to and reassured.
The plan for Mr. A was repatriation to a neuro unit in London - this was a challenging process that both the nurses and medics had to facilitate. Annabel organised a local GP for Mr. A, the funding agreements with commissioners and planned the whole transfer, which was extremely complicated. Mr. A's care needs, the funding situation, the fact that the hospital and EMAS were on black alert, all of this made arranging transport very difficult. In the end, a private ambulance was arranged with the plan that Annabel and an experienced band 6 transfer him to his new unit.
Annabel also called the unit in London and arranged housing for Mr. A's mum who had been living near City Hospital during his stay (her home is in Bristol) as she was finding dealing with everything very challenging.
On the day of transfer, Annabel came into work at 6:00 am to ensure she was present if the ambulance arrived early. She left the ward at 11:30 am having organised both the family and Mr. A's equipment. She was gone off the ward all day returning after 9 pm.
Annabel has also arranged for the staff to have some debrief sessions following Mr. A's transfer, as his situation was extremely traumatic given his age, his prognosis and the stress the family was under.
Annabel went above and beyond to support her staff through this process and wishes for them to be able to learn from their experiences.
In my opinion, the care, organisation, and support offered to Mr. A and his family were exemplary. Annabel continually went above and beyond to support all the staff, Mr. A and all his relatives who were going through the very difficult process of coping with the situation. Annabel is a true DAISY Nurse.