Posted on Tuesday 2nd August 2011
Chris Platton
Chris Platton
A senior director from Britain’s biggest nursing union will visit the Cumberland Infirmary and West Cumberland Hospital later this month.
Executive Director of Nursing and Service Delivery for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), Janet Davies, will visit the hospitals in Carlisle and Whitehaven on 26 August to meet patients and staff and see for herself all the good work that goes on.
In the morning Janet will be met by North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust’s Interim Chief Executive Dr Neil Goodwin CBE and Chris Platton, Acting Director of Nursing & Quality, at the Cumberland Infirmary, where RCN representatives will take her on a tour of the wards.
She will then head to Whitehaven for a tour of West Cumberland Hospital, accompanied by Lesley Carruthers, the Trust’s Deputy Director of Nursing, the RCN’s Northern Regional Director Glenn Turp, RCN Operational Manager for the region Estephanie Dunn, and local RCN representatives.
Janet Davies said: “It gives me great pleasure to visit to see first-hand the excellent work that Cumbria’s nursing teams do, week in week out, in the service of Cumbria’s local community.
“The NHS across Cumbria is facing a number of challenges in the coming months, both structurally and in terms of delivering excellent quality services within the context of a challenging economic position. The priority must be to maintain and improve the quality of the patient experience and I am therefore very much looking forward to hearing the views of both patients, frontline nurses and health care assistants in Whitehaven and Carlisle.”
Chris Platton said: “We are really pleased to welcome Janet Davies to our Trust and have the chance to show her around our hospitals.
“We have some excellent examples of good practice in nursing across our Trust which I am sure she will be interested to discuss with our clinical teams.”
Janet Davies became an executive director of the Royal College of Nursing in September 2005 and has the strategic lead for nursing and services to members.
She represents the RCN at the National Social Partnership Forum, working with the Department of Health and NHS Employers on issues of policy and employment. She also leads on various advisory groups and forums including the Care Quality Commission, National Clinical Guidance, Transforming Community Services, Accreditation and Quality, Ward Sisters, Open University Advisory Group and Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.
Janet started her nursing career in Manchester, and gained experience in acute, mental health and community settings. She later moved into director of nursing roles, where she obtained extensive experience in leading and developing the nursing profession. In her previous role prior to joining the RCN, as Chief Executive of Mersey Regional Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Janet was instrumental in overseeing an extensive programme of change and development.