The Scottish Veterans Fund has awarded Erskine a generous grant of £15,000 towards the cost of developing the new post of Trainee Advanced Nurse Practitioner…
Trainee Kim Barron has recently joined the existing Advanced Nurse Practitioner in providing an enhanced level of care to residents living in the 180-bed Erskine Home and the 40-bed Erskine Park Home on the grounds of the Erskine Estate in Bishopton. The team will hold responsibility for clinical decision making for residents including assessment, diagnosis of conditions, treatment and prescribing.
Prior to taking up post Kim was both a Registered Nurse at Erskine and a Community Mental Health Charge Nurse in Renfrewshire. She has experience in working in community, primary care and psychiatric liaison services in NHS Ayrshire & Arran, where she also completed her MSc in Research Methodology as part of her Early Clinical Career Fellowship.
During her time as a Trainee ANP, Kim will study towards a Masters in Advanced Practice, shadow the work of a qualified ANP and also ANPs at NHS Ayrshire and Arran and the Golden Jubilee National Hospital. The skills and experience gained during this time will lead Kim to full qualification and allow Erskine to provide the highest standard of on-site enhanced nursing care for residents.
Commenting on the award, Erskine’s Director of Care, Derek Barron, said: “The introduction of an Advanced Nurse Practitioner at Erskine two years ago has been an innovative and successful project with positive outcomes for our residents. The ANP enables quicker intervention when the health of a resident deteriorates, we can reduce the impact of an acute illness, improve end of life care, and reduce our dependency upon local GP services and NHS 24.
“The Trainee post will allow us to maintain and build upon this success in the longer term, by ultimately increasing the hours of ANP cover during evenings and weekends, and by expanding into areas such as on-site administration of intravenous medications and fluids. We are hugely grateful to the Scottish Veterans Fund for this generous contribution towards our work.”
Jim Wilson, General Secretary of Veterans Scotland, commented: “We were delighted to see the Trainee ANP post being supported by the Scottish Veterans Fund, thus enabling this important project to develop and evolve. Fast diagnosis, prescription and treatment is at the very heart of the excellent care that Erskine provides and we wish Kim the very best as she learns how to deliver a critical element of that care.”