So much happening …

29/11/19

Goodness it’s been a busy week! The 20/11 brought an amazing celebration at Barts Health (#CYPBartsHealth) focusing on Children’s Rights thanks to the Youth Empowerment Squad ‘YES’ ‪@YES_BartsHealth‬ and the wonderful Play Specialist team ‪@PlayTeamRLH‬, it got us all talking about how we continue to put a focus on Children’s Rights going forward beyond the 30th Anniversary celebrations of the UNCRC.

I also got to catch up with Starlight ‪@starlight_uk ‬ this week, they were with us at Barts Health earlier this year when Janie our ED Play Specialist won Play Specialist of the year.

Starlight are a wonderful charity that ‘punch well above their weight’ and are known for providing wishes to sick children, providing entertainment in hospitals and wonderful distraction boxes for healthcare environments (amongst other things!). It was this tweet that caught my eye reinforcing that how we engage and support children in healthcare is so much more than what we do in hospitals.

Then on Wednesday our wonderful Roald Dahl Epilepsy Nurse Specialist Lynn @LynnKeen7‬ organised a Children’s party with the marvellous Roald Dahl Charity ‪@RoaldDahlFund‬. A highlight was having a visit from Marvin the crocodile, here we are doing our power poses and having a giggle with him! The charity make such a difference to the lives of sick children and families through their pump priming of specialist nurses, do watch their Christmas campaign video it’s fabulous https://www.roalddahl.com/charity

So whilst this time of year is incredibly busy with our inpatient areas caring for sick children it’s so appreciated when Charities work with the NHS to create fun experiences not only for patients and families but for staff too. This is the stuff that keeps everyone going.

It was Sophia ‪@SophiaTouzani‬ who shared this position paper from the RCPCH and RCN on winter pressures and the importance of not losing the focus on Children and Young People, particularly regarding community care https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/winter-pressures-childrens-emergency-care-settings It follows tweets from the QNI and Children’s Community Nurse Champion Trudy Ward reinforcing the importance of growing our Children’s Community Nursing workforce to keep care closer to home when it’s safe and appropriate to do so.

And I’m sure all of us have been caught up in politically charged conversations as we head towards the election ‪@mollycasespeaks‬ shares her views on retention of nurses, it’s really worth a read https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/26/more-nurses-nhs-50000-frontline-funding

Friday provided an opportunity to say a proper hello to our newly qualified nurses here at Barts Health, our Practice Development Nurses are doing a great job of supporting them as they transition into their new roles across Whipps Cross, Newham and the Royal London Hospitals.

So as all staff providing direct care to children, young people and families continue to work incredibly hard in the weeks ahead I hope you get a moment to have some fun too as the festive season gets underway.