A course at St Christopher’s that can support aspiring nurse consultants and their organisations to achieve their potential
“We need a nurse consultant to start work here as soon as possible”.
These were the words of my most senior medical consultant colleague at St Joseph’s Hospice north London some 17 or so years ago. We were working together to develop clinical leadership that would enable the organisation to grow its offers of care and to provide services that were high quality and confident in this regard.
The hospice was in the fortunate place of boasting a strong and fully established team of new medical consultants. And yet, my colleagues believed that there was still space for a nurse consultant.
Just under a year later we appointed our first nurse consultant and we never looked back.
Our appointee brought extensive experience of working as a palliative nurse. In addition, she brought a strategic approach to service development, created opportunities at the bedside and in the classroom to develop nursing colleagues, supported and guided her medical colleagues in the event of complex, ethically challenging situations and modelled person-centred in all her clinical interactions.
The consultant team was enriched as was the nursing hierarchy through her appointment. The multi professional team she ran was happy and patients enjoyed her care. An all-round win in my view.
And for that reason, I am delighted that St Christopher’s is just about to commence the second iteration of a course for nurse consultants working in palliative care.
We begin an 18-month course starting in March 2025 available to anyone in the UK who aspires to hold this advanced clinical role.
We are excited that those who applied for the course bring rich experience of frailty, complex care, care homes, hospice care and hospital-based services.
The course assumes that participants are already confident and experienced senior nurses. What we aim to to do is to build on this, inviting them to learn more about how to act as strong strategic leaders at organisational and system levels, how to shape care and influence the practice of others.
They will leave knowing how to teach, how to draw on the evidence base to guide their practice and how to maximise their impact through effective utilisation of professional and personal strengths.
We have a few places left on the Advanced Clinical Practitioner and Nurse Consultant Programme if you or someone you know would like to join. Deadline to join Friday 21 March.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us – education@stchristophers.org.uk.
We look forward to getting to know you and helping you become the clinical leader you wish to be.
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Lead photo: Heather Richardson, Senior Consultant
I would like to appt for this course, please send me more details,