A consultant in general surgery who is a pillar of support and inspiration and a clinical technician who has given a voice back to patients often feeling on the edges of family are our winners of the July You Made a Difference awards.
Nicola Fearnhead is a consultant in general surgery at CUH. She always goes above and beyond for patients, particularly advanced pelvic malignancy patients. Nicola is a fierce advocate for these patients, always ensuring they are dealt with the utmost dignity and kindness while also receiving excellent clinical care.
With Nicola’s initiative, the Advanced Pelvic Malignancy Service at CUH has grown into a world-class service with invaluable input from the wider multidisciplinary team including nursing staff, physiotherapists, psychologists and many more.
Nicola is also committed to training the next generation of surgeons. She is an educational supervisor, an interviewer for national selection of surgical trainees, was instrumental in the formation of a regional trainee surgical research collaborative, lectures regionally and nationally and is an examiner for Cambridge University medical examinations. Nicola has taught on many surgical courses and developed new courses aimed at improving colorectal and trauma care.
There is no doubt that Nicola’s input to the general surgery department and the wider CUH community is invaluable and monumental. The general surgery department are eternally grateful for everything she does for patients and as a colleague. She is a true pillar of support and an inspiration for the resident doctors.
Nicola’s nomination focussed on a particular patient case, and so we can’t share those details. However, extracts from her nomination, submitted by a colleague, said:
“Miss Fearnhead went over and above to help a patient receive their operation.
“Miss Fearnhead spent a long time talking to [the patient] and building rapport. She spoke kindly, used language that [the patient] could understand and showed them the equipment.
Miss Fearnhead realised how crucial this relationship-building was to the patient's overall well-being and it shows what a truly caring surgeon she is.
Jenny started in her role as a clinical technician in the specialist Communication Aid Service East of England (CASEE) team in August 2017. The CASEE team provide communication aid technology to patients whose speech is severely impaired. Jenny’s role as a clinical technician is vital in ensuring patients get the communication aids they need with the most appropriate content.
A typical day for Jenny can involve driving to see patients at home, in residential centres or at school, around the East of England. She works alongside a CASEE colleague to assess the patients communication requirements and determine what supports will work best for them and their carers.
Jenny’s follow up visit to the patient may involve providing an electronic communication aid, with their personalised vocabulary pre-programmed. Jenny will provide training in how the communication aid works and will return several weeks later to check if the equipment has been useful. She also provides technical support for all communication aids on long term loan from CASEE and completes planned maintenance visits to check the equipment is still working well and is safe to use.
Jenny plays an integral role in the creation of paper based communication books and boards and has unrivalled knowledge of the various specialist software packages used to create these resources.
Jenny's role often involves customising the communication aid software to meet the unique needs of patients. For example, adding personally relevant messages so the user can communicate in a way that is meaningful for them and their loved ones; or developing custom vocabularies to allow bilingual users to seamlessly switch from one language to another.
Jenny routinely supports patients to get their ‘banked voices’ working on their communication aids, so the electronic voice coming from the device is actually a version of the person’s own voice prior to the loss of their speech.
Jenny is equally comfortable interacting with the young children who attend our service and with our adult and elderly patients and treats everyone with respect and dignity.
She is outstanding in her ability to explain complex technology in an easy to understand and accessible way.
Jenny has also developed links with other departments to further support the range of equipment the CASEE team can offer. Jenny is one of a kind and a massively valued member of the team.
Extracts from Jenny’s nomination, submitted by a colleague, said:
Jenny’s clinical and technical expertise is invaluable to the CASEE team for so many reasons.
“Our team works with adults and children who are no longer able to use their voice for communication and therefore utilise technology to help them communicate with their friends, family and professionals.
“Some of these individuals are adults with rapidly progressing conditions who have young children or grandchildren. The impact of their disease progression and the equipment required can of course be devastating to the individual and the family but can also leave them on the peripheries of family life.
“This is further compounded by the loss of their voice. Jenny has demonstrated her technical expertise and patient-centred approach by recently creating templates for books that can be accessed within the software used on our communication aids.
“This has meant that patients are now able to read books such as Zog and The Tiger Who Came to Tea to their young children and grandchildren again. Jenny has gone one step further than just programming the words of the book and has added further phrases to comment and support interaction such as ‘Are you sitting comfortably?’ and ‘No, that naughty dragon!’
Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive in terms of the improvements in quality of life and social closeness for our patients and their families. An unexpected result, however, is that it’s also been reported to us that younger children have now been less intimidated by the equipment provided (which can often be quite large) and have returned to doing things like sitting on laps and cuddling in.
"This has helped to ensure that patients are not simply observing family life happening around them, but are an active participant.
“This is just one example of the many times Jenny has gone above and beyond for patients. She is a fantastic team member and we are so grateful for her reliable and compassionate approach to everything she puts her hand to.”