Nurses' Day

Nurses’ Day is celebrated on Friday 12 May and we will be showcasing the incredible work of our nursing staff and the difference they make to patients’ lives across Yorkshire.

We have 147 registered nurses who work in a variety of roles, from directors to senior clinical advisors on the frontline. The majority of our nurses work in Integrated Urgent Care.

Nurses’ Day is a chance to celebrate the impact nurses have on patient care, as well as an opportunity to say thank you.

To mark the event, the YAS Nurse Leadership Forum is hosting a Nurse Leadership Conference on Friday 12 May 2023 at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to acknowledge and celebrate the commitment of our clinical, medical and nursing associate staff working across the Trust.

While the event has a nursing focus, this conference is an opportunity for all staff across the organisation to come together to reflect on the impact of the last three years and celebrate how clinical leadership is developing in our organisation.

Spotlight on some of our nurses

Dean Booker, Clinical Practice Developer 

Dean started his nursing career as a surgical nurse in an acute hospital. He is now responsible for the training and development of new starters to the NHS 111 team, as well as existing staff members.

He joined us in 2013, starting as a senior clinical advisor. He enjoyed the responsibility of supporting and caring for patients, directing them to the care they needed, and the huge learning journey required for him to understand and navigate the many services the NHS provides. He moved from this role into training other team members as a clinical practice developer.

He said: “I mainly provide training for the senior clinical advisors but do some for our health advisors too. I really enjoy training and developing and writing the materials we use. I review serious investigations and incidents to look at the learning we can take from them. As a service we are constantly evolving and I like being part of that, creating new training materials from scratch.

“When new starters join us, they do an intensive induction and training programme, which looks at YAS information and systems, our policies and procedures. Our team members also have training to work with the national NHS Pathways tool – the clinical tool used for assessing, triaging and directing the public to urgent and emergency care services.

“As a small team of practice developers, we are there to support staff in their first experiences of taking calls and when they are signed off to work independently. We are always available when needed.”

Lisa Allison, Clinical Operational Service Manager

Lisa qualified as a nurse in 1985 and for many years worked in hospitals on medical wards. She loved her job but was encouraged by a friend, who worked for an NHS telephone health advice and information service, that it was worth considering as a future career option. When her sister was very ill, Lisa said it made her look again at her own life and she decided to give this different role in patient care a go.

She said: “I joined as a clinical advisor first in 2002 and over the years have been encouraged to try new roles within the service, including team leader and then as an operational service manager, which I started in 2020.

"When I started as a clinical advisor it was very daunting despite my extensive nursing experience. It is a different type of care doing triage over the telephone and requires different skills. You definitely need good general nursing experience and knowledge. When you see a patient arriving at hospital, what you see gives you a lot of information about the patient’s needs. To get that information over the phone requires real skill and patience. To help staff there is a strong training package and on-going support.

“It is a really lovely place to work and everyone is very friendly and really supportive. My role includes managing seven team leaders and dealing with the day-to-day operational issues and challenges of running the NHS 111 service. It is a very busy job, which I love.

“When my son graduated from university, I encouraged him to try working in NHS 111 while he decided on his future options – he stayed for five years and is still part of the NHS!”

Kathryn Mitchell, NHS 111 Call Centre Manager

Kathryn has been a qualified nurse for nearly 25 years and started her career in the acute hospital setting, working on a ward specialising in head and neck treatment and care. She also worked in pre-assessment, and it was this experience that made her think about a different route for her career in nursing.

She said: “I had come to a point where there was no career progression for me on the hospital ward, and my work in pre-assessment opened my eyes to different opportunities. I joined the former telephone health information and advice service, NHS Direct, in 2003 as I wanted a new challenge which enabled me to use my nursing knowledge and skills in a different way. I took calls from patients and gave advice on the needed level of care based on their presenting needs, provided clinical advice to colleagues, provided training and supported clinical audit.

“When I moved to NHS 111 in 2013 I was a senior clinical advisor and quickly progressed to be a clinical team leader and then a clinical duty manager. Since 2017, I have been a call centre manager. While you don’t have to have a clinical background to do this role, I feel it complements the other non-clinical call centre manager.

“I am responsible for the overall running of the call centre, our operating procedures and future planning, as well as ensuring that we are a supportive learning environment. I also continue to maintain my clinical skills – taking calls and providing clinical support to staff within the call centre. So, I have the best of both worlds - having one foot in management and the other in clinical!

“The whole team is very supportive. I enjoy this way of providing healthcare, using my nursing and clinical skills in a different way because, of course, we can’t see the patient. It is fast-paced, with no two days the same, and very rewarding. My career route demonstrates that there are plenty of career opportunities within NHS 111 – as well as across the whole of Yorkshire Ambulance Service."