Neurorehabilitation staff nurse
Natasha Shillingford
Staff Nurse, joined the Trust in 2008
What is your role?
As a Staff Nurse at the Wolfson I help neurorehabilitation patients to regain as much skills as they possibly can to help them with their daily life.
What does a typical working day look like?
A typical day entails helping to get all the patients washed and dressed. As this is rehabilitation it is about encouraging the patients to do as much for themselves as they can. This can be hard because when you see a patient struggling to do something you automatically want to help, but by taking a step back we try to help them that little bit further. Throughout the day all the nurses will help the patients with any everyday tasks they want to carry out.
As our patients are here for up to 12 weeks, the multidisciplinary team caring for each patient meets on a weekly basis to discuss their progress and to determine as a team what goals we feel the patient should be working at and how we can help encourage that individual patient to reach that goal.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
The nurse-patient relationship is very rewarding. As the patients here are long term you have a chance to get to know them well and you can see, sometimes dramatically, how much a patient has improved.
What level of patient contact do you have in your role?
My role requires me to have a high level of patient contact.
What other members of the healthcare team do you work with?
Other members of the multidisciplinary team that the nurses have to work closely with are; healthcare assistants, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, speech and language therapist, doctors, neurophysiologists, catering staff and a pharmacist.
What do you like about working for the Trust?
Because patients at the Wolfson are here long term I love seeing the satisfaction and confidence they gain during their stay, from admission to discharge.
Why did you join the NHS?
Joining the NHS has allowed me to work and help people that are less fortunate. I am lucky to be working in a job that is rewarding and gives me such job satisfaction.
