Hospital at Night
Competences in Action Conference

The NHS Hospital at Night team held a ‘Competences in Action’ conference at the Birmingham Hippodrome on 16th March which launched the Developing the Role of the Nurse Co-ordinator report.

The conference also highlighted areas of good practice and learning from implementation of Hospital at Night and focussed on tools to support Hospital at Night and 24/7 working in trusts.

This conference was very successful with over 150 attendees from across the country and from a variety of professional groups including nurse co-ordinators and EWTD leads. ‘The day was well organised and enjoyable’, said Jasek Szymanski, project manager for Hospital at Night at North Bristol NHS Trust, ‘And its main theme of competences was invaluable in prompting further thought and action particularly with reference to improved patient safety. Wendy Reid and Diana Hamilton-Fairley were particularly inspirational and highlighted the need to have similar likeminded champions at a senior level in all trusts.’

Developing the Role of the Nurse Co-ordinator was produced by Staffordshire University in partnership with the NHS West Midlands Workforce Deanery, Skills for Health and the NHS Hospital at Night team. It reviews the nursing co-ordinator role and includes a revised set of competences and a standardised job description for this role. It is a valuable resource document for trusts who are setting up Hospital at Night teams or developing this model of care. Here is an overview of the presentations given at the conference and the resources that are available:

Hospital at Night: Past, Present and Future - Wendy Reid, national clinical lead Hospital at Night: Wendy spoke on the Hospital at Night baseline assessment report and recommendations for trusts implementing Hospital at Night.

The European Working Time Directive and You - Nigel Burgess, WTD programme lead, Skills for Health - Workforce Projects Team: Nigel gave an overview of the Working Time Directive and the role of Skills for Health - Workforce Projects Team in supporting its implementation.

Benefits Realisation - Gerry Bolger, project director NHS Hospital at Night team: Gerry spoke on the potential for benefits realisation from Hospital at Night as well as giving hints and tips for implementation.

E-learning and Hospital at Night - Delyth Jones and Steve Davies, Cardiff and the Vale NHS Trust: At Cardiff they have developed a Hospital at Night e-learning tool and this presentation outlines this tool and its benefits.

Nursing Supervisory Log - Linda Shrewsbury, NHS Midlands: Linda Shrewsbury has developed a nursing log book which is a structured record of an individual’s clinical practice and learning.

Hospital at Night case study - Adel Jones and Dr John Lowes, South Devon Healthcare NHS Trust: This was a case study presentation and gave an update on their Hospital at Night team and also tips for implementing Hospital at Night.

Hospital at Night 24/7 case study - Diana Hamilton-Fairley, deputy medical director, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital Foundation Trust: Diana spoke on how her Trust is building on the Hospital at Night model and developing a 24/7 approach.

Role of the Nurse in Hospital at Night - Ros Moore, professional officer, Acute Care Nursing and Research, Department of Health: Ros spoke on the importance of the nurse in a Hospital at Night team.

Engaging Clinicians - Diana Hamilton - Fairley, deputy medical director, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital Foundation Trust: Diana gave advice on how to engage clinicians by exploring ways to get them involved and keeping them on

WENDY Data Collection - Dan Hughes, national support and development manager, Doctors Rostering System: Dan gave an overview of WENDY, the new web based data collection tool that is being developed this quarter.

Hospital at Night in Mental Health - Brian Jones, project manager, Manchester Mental Health Services: Brian showed how Hospital at Night is relevant to mental health services and how they have adopted the model in Manchester.

Role of the Patient at Risk Nurse - Sheila Adam, nurse consultant, UCLH - Sheila spoke on the importance of the PERT or critical care outreach nurse and its link to Hospital at Night.

Risk Assessment - John Morrison, patient safety manager, National Patient Safety Agency: John spoke on the importance of risk assessment when implementing Hospital at Night.

The Developing the Role of the Nurse Co-ordinator report and the presentations from the conference are now available to download at www.healthcareworkforce.nhs.uk/hospitalatnightconference. To get more information about introducing this role or Hospital at Night contact the Hospital at night Team

Who we are and Contact Us

The objectives of this work stream are to support trusts with implementation of the H@N concept at night and beyond.

Its specific objectives are: a) To provide practical advice and support for trusts implementing the H@N model
b) To encourage the use of appropriate risk assessment tools and nurse competence framework, to ensure the H@N model is implemented safely by trusts
c) To identify new learning from early implementers (over and above the lessons from the pilot sites), and disseminate this learning across the NHS
d) To ensure ongoing engagement of clinical, professional and representative bodies
e) To provide effective communication to support H@N implementation as one of the solutions to WTD 2009.

We provide information, support, and identify best practice to enable trusts to implement H@N.

The team is clinically led by Miss Wendy Reid, national clinical lead for Hospital at Night and managed by Gerry Bolger, senior project manager.