The first mental health nurse to work directly for the Trust which runs Lincolnshire hospitals has been welcomed into an elderly care team.
Rochelle King attended a recruitment open day at Pilgrim Hospital, Boston where she spoke to staff at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust with a desire to improve patient care by combining her mental health experience with general medicine and was offered an interview.
A mental health nurse or RMN is a qualified nurse who studied the mental health branch of nursing.
Rachelle Cryan former ward sister of ward 6A and now matron for urgent care at Pilgrim Hospital said: “We felt like we were missing a trick by not having a mental health nurse on the ward and part of the team. Rochelle has in-depth knowledge of mental capacity medicine and this particularly relates to those patients with dementia. We have a lot of patients with co-existing problems with mental and physical health.”
Staff on ward 6A look after elderly female patients with complex conditions, many of which have dementia.
Rochelle said: “I wanted a new challenge and to further my skills to help patients more. I am trained in assisting patients who do become agitated to help manage their aggression. I can do this through verbal de-escalation skills and looking at their mental health medications as to what could be causing the aggression. I also offer one to one support for patients with dementia.”
The 31-year-old from Boston is enjoying her role and will attend mental health courses to keep her knowledge up to date and share her skills with the rest of her team on the ward.
Rachelle is hoping this is just the beginning of more mental health nurses directly working in the Trust.
She added: “I’m really hoping this is just the beginning and we can welcome more mental health nurses into our teams and share those skills. We’d love to inspire more mental health nurses to get in touch and see if we can create more positions.”