Careers
If you would like to write for our careers section email the editor at [email protected] or @NScareersEd
Service manager Geri Coulls is guiding her trust’s acute mental health team through a period of physical and organisational change
BUILDING THE FUTURE As a service manager for adult acute mental health care, I am responsible for the care of people during the most critical stages of their illness. Along with five team leaders, I work to develop and audit services at Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust. We work closely with colleagues in the clinical commissioning group and the voluntary sector, as well as service users and carers. I began working in mental health care when I was 16. I became interested in acute care and the effect that high-risk behaviour has on individuals as well as their families and friends when I worked as a clinical nurse specialist in self-harm. I enjoyed being part of a person’s recovery and the re-establishment of a positive and productive life. My current role can be difficult, challenging and exhausting, but being able to develop services, be part of innovation, and part
Geri Coulls (left), with a building contractor and head of service redesign Phillipa MacDonald during construction of the new Emerald ward
My job in brief My working day The relocation and construction of a new ward is extremely time-consuming. There are many meetings on acute care, health and safety, governance and the patient experience. I often meet with carers and service users, site managers and, at the moment, building contractors, planners and facilities staff. My working space I am based on the inpatient site and the crisis resolution and home treatment teams are nearby, which encourages good communication. My colleagues and clients My clients are service users and carers; my colleagues are other service managers, team leaders and ward managers, clinical staff and police and social workers.
of recovery for service users and their families, gives me personal and professional satisfaction. I have achieved a lot in this post – involvement in the building of a new ward and the upgrading of others; working with carers on a new action plan and information booklets; the introduction of recovery clinics and physical health nurses on our wards; the introduction of support time and recovery workers; and, importantly, positive feedback from service users and carers. For all this, our team has recently been recognised with an award. The huge task of building a new ward, which is part of a major building programme at the trust, as well as the move towards an NHS culture that is more corporate and responsive to patient and policy demands, has been challenging for everyone. Our new 18-bed Emerald ward is designed to increase bed
numbers and improve the patient and staff environment. The biggest challenge, however, has not been building the new ward, but using the opportunity to review our longstanding workplace practices and to establish an improved culture of excellence and a fresh team identity. A year from now, I know that our service will look very different and staff will be more confident in the changes that will have taken place NS Geri Coulls is service manager for adult acute mental health care, Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust RESOURCES RCN mental health forum tinyurl.com/pcerxmm Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust www.kmpt.nhs.uk
NURSING february 4 other :: vol uses 29 no 23 :: permission. 2015 63 DownloadedSTANDARD from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 15, 2015. For personal use only. No without Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
If you would like to write for our careers section email the editor at [email protected] or @NScareersEd
Service manager Geri Coulls is guiding her trust’s acute mental health team through a period of physical and organisational change
BUILDING THE FUTURE As a service manager for adult acute mental health care, I am responsible for the care of people during the most critical stages of their illness. Along with five team leaders, I work to develop and audit services at Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust. We work closely with colleagues in the clinical commissioning group and the voluntary sector, as well as service users and carers. I began working in mental health care when I was 16. I became interested in acute care and the effect that high-risk behaviour has on individuals as well as their families and friends when I worked as a clinical nurse specialist in self-harm. I enjoyed being part of a person’s recovery and the re-establishment of a positive and productive life. My current role can be difficult, challenging and exhausting, but being able to develop services, be part of innovation, and part
Geri Coulls (left), with a building contractor and head of service redesign Phillipa MacDonald during construction of the new Emerald ward
My job in brief My working day The relocation and construction of a new ward is extremely time-consuming. There are many meetings on acute care, health and safety, governance and the patient experience. I often meet with carers and service users, site managers and, at the moment, building contractors, planners and facilities staff. My working space I am based on the inpatient site and the crisis resolution and home treatment teams are nearby, which encourages good communication. My colleagues and clients My clients are service users and carers; my colleagues are other service managers, team leaders and ward managers, clinical staff and police and social workers.
of recovery for service users and their families, gives me personal and professional satisfaction. I have achieved a lot in this post – involvement in the building of a new ward and the upgrading of others; working with carers on a new action plan and information booklets; the introduction of recovery clinics and physical health nurses on our wards; the introduction of support time and recovery workers; and, importantly, positive feedback from service users and carers. For all this, our team has recently been recognised with an award. The huge task of building a new ward, which is part of a major building programme at the trust, as well as the move towards an NHS culture that is more corporate and responsive to patient and policy demands, has been challenging for everyone. Our new 18-bed Emerald ward is designed to increase bed
numbers and improve the patient and staff environment. The biggest challenge, however, has not been building the new ward, but using the opportunity to review our longstanding workplace practices and to establish an improved culture of excellence and a fresh team identity. A year from now, I know that our service will look very different and staff will be more confident in the changes that will have taken place NS Geri Coulls is service manager for adult acute mental health care, Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust RESOURCES RCN mental health forum tinyurl.com/pcerxmm Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust www.kmpt.nhs.uk
NURSING february 4 other :: vol uses 29 no 23 :: permission. 2015 63 DownloadedSTANDARD from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 15, 2015. For personal use only. No without Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
