We are delighted to welcome Karen Saunders to #OurDHU, joining us as the Clinical Service Lead for Urgent and Emergency Care Northamptonshire.
Everyone has a story, a journey before they joined us here at DHU Healthcare, but very few of them travel as far as Karen has to get here. We wanted to introduce you to our new colleague in Northants, so we caught up with her to find out her story and what she has planned for us…
“I’ve joined the team in Daventry, not far from where I was born in Coventry, but I went much further afield before settling. I moved to Canada, which is where I began my career, completing my nurse training in acute medicine. I loved it there but wanted a change and found out that US hospitals were actively recruiting Canadian nurses, so moved to North Carolina where I received my Level One Training in Trauma and worked in Theatres.
“I did that for eight years before moving to South Carolina where I worked within a Medical Assessment Team, looking after state run medical programmes for everyone from babies to the elderly. I was there for five years before the call of home became too much to resist and I went back to Coventry in 2018. I worked for the local Trust, in the Community Urgent Response Team, where District Nurses would visit a patient’s home within two hours of a call when I saw the DHU job in Daventry.
“It took me two years to get my nursing qualification over here but with my experience across the Atlantic, I was ready to step up and take on more management responsibilities whilst keeping up my clinical activities. The management side isn’t unlike the work I did in US Theatres and I’m really looking forward to helping to develop, mentor and coach some of our ANPs, look at the processes we have and tap into their expertise to see how we can improve services for patients.
“I’m hoping to develop this role which was previously a part time position and looking to bring some of my own experiences to DHU. The key thing for me is that, in order to know how a service works and how clinicians treat patients, it’s important for me to be right beside them and carry out the role which is why the clinical side of my work will be vital. I’ll be right there alongside the nurses and encouraging them to share their ideas about how the service could be improved, tap into their expertise and learn from that.
“At the same time, there will be things that I can bring over from my experience overseas, particularly from Canada where they have a similar health system to the NHS. I’ll be right there alongside our clinical teams, highly visible and approachable, including during evening and night shifts, and want to encourage discussion about the different systems we use and how we all work.
“Since I came back to England I’ve been so impressed with the NHS as a service, the compassion and dedication of everybody who works here and I’ve heard lots of complimentary things about DHU healthcare and the way we work within health systems. I’ve not been here long but it’s been an eye-opening experience, I’ve been made to feel at home and I’m excited about the possibilities and opportunities that this role could bring.”
Karen will be based at Daventry Hospital, also working across Northampton, Kettering and Danetre.
Thanks to Karen for telling us about her role and keep your eyes peeled for DHU’s next #WhatDoYouDo.
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