On Saturday June 9th, 2018, Professor Adrienne Foran and the NICU team celebrated winning the award for ‘Consultant-led Team of the Year 2018 at the hospitals professional awards. Professor Foran and the NICU team were nominated anonymously for the category and submitted an application that focused on how the team has worked together to achieve its objectives over the past 12 months.
The NICU team is directed by Dr Breda Hayes and consists of six consultant neonatologist, 18 junior doctors at basic and higher specialist training grades, research fellows, nursing staff which include three advanced nurse practitioners, maternity care assistance (MCA’s), a dietician, social worker, physiotherapists and other support staff.
Professor Foran’s particular interest in expanding the role of MCA’s, led to the introduction of a module ‘Care of the Sick New Born’ which has been supported by the accredited education institute, the National lead in Neonatology and frontline staff.
The whole time equivalent numbers of care assistants were increased from three to six in 2017. Frontline nurses understanding the efforts were not about diluting nursing roles, rather delegating high volume, low risk tasks to MCA’s that would, in turn, free nurses for more complex duties.
The teams mission is to excel in the delivery of safe innovative and responsive services for babies and their families. They continue to focus projects on the delivery of holistic and family centrered care.