Hannah Wells, Neonatal Surgical Specialist Nurse

I have always known surgical nursing was for me. I worked as a health care assistant on a children’s surgical ward for a year prior to undertaking my nurse training. My first job as a newly qualified nurse was on a children’s surgical ward. I then moved to the Neonatal unit, and I have been here ever since. I enjoyed taking care of a variety of neonatal patients but still found I had a particular interest in the infants with surgical pathology.

A secondment into the surgical nursing team opened and I applied. 12 years later I am still part of the team!

The role of the Neonatal Surgical Nurse Specialist (NSNS) team is to work collaboratively within the wider surgical and Neonatal Multi-Disciplinary team (MDT). The team support the care of families from antenatal/postnatal diagnosis to discharge home or transition into paediatric services. We provide specialist advice, education, and support to health care professionals in UHS and the wider Thames Valley and Wessex Network, and for parents/carers of the neonates in our care, both on the Neonatal Unit and immediately after discharge.

We work 7 days a week to provide both continuity and expert care for infants and their families. This starts with supporting prenatal counselling and continues through an infant’s inpatient stay and during the early outpatient phase prior to their transfer to paediatric care. We work collaboratively with the Paediatric surgical team. Working 7 days a week also allows for complex discharges to not be delayed as we often facilitate sending a family home over a weekend as we are here to support that to happen smoothly.

Part of our role requires us to work autonomously, with the ability to undertake a surgical ward round or clinic independently if the clinical need arises. We utilise advanced clinical, analytical, and decision-making skills to prioritise our workload and make clinical plans for the surgical infants.

We support the neonatal team in setting up for surgery on the NNU or transporting infants to theatre at the general hospital and support the family through the whole process.

We provide teaching day to day on the Neonatal unit, the wider Trust and the Thames Valley and Wessex Network for the multi-disciplinary team. We have a virtual learning platform on neonatal surgical conditions and procedures to support the teams in local units.