Celebrating our nurses; nursing on your doorstep | News

Julie Kappil and Jessy Thomas are both senior sisters at Royal Surrey. Like their colleagues across the Trust, they provide comprehensive nursing care to their patients - including administering medication, carrying out diagnostics, delivering treatment, monitoring wellbeing and offering invaluable ‘bedside’ chat, to name just a few aspects of their role. What makes Julie and Jessy’s work different is that they’re never providing that care within the same four walls. They are part of the nursing team who work on our ‘ward’ in the community through the Hospital at Home service.

It’s a virtual ward, whose staff provide care for eligible unwell patients living with frailty in their own home. It started in 2022 and continues to develop to offer neighbourhood health services fit for the future. Once admitted to the service, just like on a traditional ward, patients receive daily care from nurses, allied health professionals and doctors.

Julie and Jessy arrived at the Milford based service some years ago, both with substantial experience as international nurses in hospitals and other healthcare settings. Jessy has been nursing since 1992 and when she saw the advert for the virtual ward, was intrigued by the opportunity.

She said: “I thought, I’ll just try and I got the job! When I arrived, I soon realised community work is totally different because every day is different.”

“On a hospital ward it’s very task-based with lots of the team around you. When we go to the patients in their homes, we’re on our own to deliver care and make decisions. We have input on treatment plans and more time to get the bigger picture and involve the family too.”

Julie and Jessy will see somewhere between one and eight patients a day depending on the cases on the ‘ward’ and, where they all live. They can notch up to 600 miles a week driving round to deliver care. Julie admits her navigation skills are now second to none and they’ve developed a real knack in working out house numbers in the dark.

She said: “I like the challenge, it’s all part of our skillset! Our work is exciting and requires confidence and expertise. We need to be flexible and adaptable and enjoy the independence.”

Jessy added: “We have clinicians to ask for support, but we do the assessments ourselves and are confident to recognise deterioration and take the necessary steps. It’s so rewarding to give safe, compassionate, person-centred care to the patient in their own environment.”

Nanette Garner is the Integrated Frailty Matron, she said nursing on the virtual ward sees each nurse managing complexity and risk with compassion and respect as they’re welcomed into patients’ homes.

She said: “Our work builds strong clinical judgement, decision-making and adaptability, it shows the value of acute level care delivered outside a hospital setting. I am incredibly proud of the team’s dedication, resilience and the difference they make to patients and families every single day.”

We’re celebrating all the nurses working across Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust on International Nurses’ Day and thanking them for their dedication and professionalism. You can find out more about their roles in our spotlights on Sister Squirrel in ICU and Jenny Watkins who’s been a nurse for 50 years.