Governors’ blogs

October 2012

29th

• A tour of private maternity
  by Wendie McWatters (Patient Governor)—I recently spent a fascinating couple of hours with Cherry Brennan, Maternity Inpatients Matron & Supervisor of Midwives, and learned a great deal about the improvements that have taken place.

August 2012

16th

• MediHome enables treatment at home
  by Susan Maxwell (Patient Governor)—There’s no doubt that when we are seriously ill we need the care and attention that a hospital stay provides. However, there are patients whose stay is longer than necessary simply because they continue to need a daily intravenously administered antibiotic or an infected wound dressed, or perhaps they require some physiotherapy. In such circumstances, most of us would rather recover at home than in hospital.

April 2012

12th

• Funding the Open Day
  by Susan Maxwell (Patient Governor)—The Council of Governors considers it a privilege to fund the Trust’s annual Open Day. Indeed, it’s a wonderful opportunity for patients, their visitors and the local community to see how the clinical, clerical, cleaning and maintenance staff all work as a united team to make Chelsea and Westminster one of the top hospitals in London.

November 2011

17th

• Our hospital's fight against HIV
  by Chris Birch (Patient Governor)—I am proud to be a Governor of this hospital, and one reason is its outstanding record in the fight against HIV. Two close friends were killed by HIV and the lives of some of my HIV positive friends were saved by this hospital's doctors.

July 2011

10th

• Infection Control and a tour of Annie Zunz Ward
  by Susan Maxwell (Patient Governor)—It was planned that my first Governor/Senior Nurse Round would start with sitting in on an Infection Control Committee (ICC). Kathryn Mangold, General Manager and Directorate Nurse for Gynaecology and the Assisted Conception Unit, who accompanied me was a little concerned that I would find the meeting a dry affair. She shouldn't have worried because the meeting, chaired by Dr Berge Azadian, the Director of Infection Prevention and Control, proved to be extremely interesting.

April 2011

25th

• Visit to Annie Zunz Ward
  by Wendie McWatters (Patient Governor)—I visited Annie Zunz Ward for women who are gynaecology inpatients to get a first hand view of its workings. I was welcomed by Ward Sister Mary Knight who is also in charge of gynaecology outpatients.

19th

• A deep respect for Clinical Site Managers
  by Susan Maxwell (Patient Governor)—When I was asked if I would like to shadow a member of staff for an hour or two, to get an idea of what their job entailed, I initially misheard. I heard the words 'Site Manager' and, for me, this conjured up an image of a hefty engineer in a hard hat clutching a clipboard. However, the person I was to shadow was, in fact, a 'Clinical' Site Manager (CSM) and believe me, that particular job is a different kettle of fish altogether.

3rd

• Visit to Gastroenterology
  by Chris Birch (Patient Governor)—One of the perks of editing a weekly news magazine, which I did for 13 years, is that you get to do a lot of expenses-paid entertaining, and I have had many interesting lunchtime discussions with a wide variety of people.

November 2010

30th

• Becoming a Foundation Trust member
  by Susan Maxwell (Patient Governor)—A hospital is much more than a building housed within a local community. It is much more than the staff and management who service it. It is much more than the numerous patients who have need of the services provided there. It is the sum of all and as such it is a community in itself.

• Being a Governor
  by Chris Birch (Patient Governor)—18 years ago I put up a memorial in Westminster Abbey (to a woman who had been dead for 615 years), and I get quite a buzz from owning a very small part of that magnificent church.