Benchmark and Enhance Your Paediatric Assessment Unit

Nathan currently works as a consultant nurse in Paediatric Emergency Medicine at Salford Royal Hospital covering the Paediatric Emergency Department and Observation and Assessment Unit, he is also the clinical lead for Paediatric Unscheduled Care in the Trust.

There is quite some variation in consultant nurse roles across the country involving an element of clinical, educational and strategic development. 70% of his workload involves working on the consultant medical rota within the emergency department and observation and assessment unit with supportive role in service development, governance and clinical skills development. Nathan also undertakes guideline development work for NICE including Guideline Development Group member for the Major Trauma Guidelines, formerly as a standing member of the Clinical Guideline Update Committee and now Clinical Expert. He is also a committee member for the paediatric subgroup of the Trauma Audit and Research Network (TARN).

Nathan qualified as a Registered Nurse (Child) in 2001 at the University of Wales, before taking up a staff nurse post within a general paediatric ward at Wrexham Maelor Hospital. Throughout his time there he developed two keen interests. Firstly; a keen interest in the development of nursing knowledge and clinical skills in paediatrics and also clinically, in emergency care. As a result of this interest he took up a paediatric practice development role, the first of its kind within the trust.  

With a desire to expand his knowledge he searched for a paediatric-specific nursing degree, of which there were very few at the time, however managed to secure a place on the BSc Paediatric Nurse Practitioner course at St Martin’s College. His progression though this course coincided with the culmination of a number of years of strategic reconfiguration of children’s services within Greater Manchester. 

In 2007, this extra knowledge and the development of enhanced assessment skills enabled Nathan to take up an exciting and challenging role of Advanced Nurse Practitioner within the paediatric emergency and observation and assessment unit at Salford Royal Hospital, in addition to undertaking an MSc in Advanced Practice.

At the time this new role; the design and way of working of the assessment unit was almost unique. Placing advanced nurse practitioners at the centre of the clinical decision making process, supported by consultant paediatricians and a nurse consultant allowed for Nathan to develop knowledge and skills in the assessment and management of a wide range of paediatric illnesses and injuries.

After five years of consolidating his knowledge, an opportunity to develop some strategic skills presented itself with a move to Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust. The primary objective of the role was to support the development of an advanced nurse practitioner team in the paediatric department in order to support a wider strategic reorganisation of services within Shropshire. Nathan subsequently returned to Salford as a consultant nurse and the role that he undertakes today.