RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary visits Wiltshire NHS trusts

Published: 21 March 2013

Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive & General Secretary of the RCN, will be visiting healthcare staff in the region on Wednesday 27 March.  Dr Carter will be meeting nurses to hear about life working in healthcare in the region.

Dr Carter will be meeting Oonagh Fitzgerald, Director of Workforce & Education and Nerissa Vaughan, Chief Executive at Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

This will be followed by a lunch with RCN members at 12 o’clock. 

In the afternoon Dr Carter will be meeting Hilary Walker, Chief Nurse, for a guided tour of clinical areas.  This will be followed by a visit to Ailesbury Ward at Savernake Community Hospital and meeting with the Marlborough Neighbourhood Team. 

RCN members have been invited to attend an open question and answer session at Savernake Hospitals later in the afternoon.

Laura Matless, RCN Wiltshire branch Chair said:

“We are delighted to welcome Dr Peter Carter to Wiltshire and I would encourage members of our branch to embrace and support this visit.  It provides a fantastic opportunity for our members to meet and speak with him personally about their experience of working in healthcare in challenging times.”

Hilary Walker, Chief Nurse, Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said:

“We are delighted that Dr Peter Carter is visiting the trust and look forward to sharing with him the recent progress we have made in nursing.  I will be updating Dr Carter on the work we have done to make sure we have the right numbers of appropriately skilled nursing staff on our wards to support the best patient care.  This has resulted is an extra £1m investment, particularly in registered nurses, over the coming year which will have a positive impact on patient care and the experience of the nursing teams delivering care.

“Additionally the development of a new nursing strategy has engaged nursing staff in prioritising the delivery of safe, high quality and compassionate care and is helping to raise the profile of the profession across the organisation.

“We have also invested £150,000 in a new nursing and midwifery leadership programme to develop the skills of our Matrons and Senior Sisters so they are better able to lead their teams to provide even better care in the future.

“This all demonstrates our genuine and heartfelt commitment to supporting nursing teams to deliver the highest standards for our patients.”