Hospital staff receive awards for 132 years of patient care

THE matron and three senior nurses of Minehead Hospital have been recognised for their combined 132 years of service to patient care.
Hospital matron, Sue Meade, staff nurses Tracey Griffin and Christine Bard, and outpatients sister Linda Arscott received commemorative certificates and specially engraved glass paperweights.
The presentations took place at an NHS long service award ceremony held at the town’s hospital just before Christmas by Somerset Primary Care Trust chairman Jane Barrie.
Mrs Barrie commended all of the staff in the hospital for their hard work during year and their commitment to delivering high quality care to patients.
She said: “The board of the primary care trust and I appreciate and thank all Minehead Hospital staff for their continued hard work and efforts.
“This year, Government inspectors the Healthcare Commission awarded the second highest rating of ‘good’ for the standard of our community health services and this was due to the continuing hard work of all staff.
“It is your commitment and determination to improve the quality of the care and treatment that is appreciated by local people, the primary care trust and the National Health Service.”
Sue Meade has worked in the NHS for more than 29 years and was appointed matron in Minehead in 2004.
She started working at Minehead in 1983 as a staff nurse and had previously worked at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.
Sue became acting sister in 1983 and was promoted to sister in January, 1985.
She has always been at the forefront of developing local services and has been playing a leading role in the development of the new Minehead hospital which will be built off Seaward Way.
Tracey Griffin has worked in the NHS for more than 26 years, starting her career as a student nurse in Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, in 1982.
She became a staff nurse on the surgical ward of Minehead Hospital in January, 1986, and was promoted to senior staff nurse in 1988.
In 1994, Tracey was promoted to sister with the surgical team, and as well as managing surgical services for the local community she has run specialist blood clinics for West Somerset.
Christine Bard has 41 years of service with the NHS, having qualified as a nurse in the 1970s.
From 1978 to 1982, she worked in Yeovil District Hospital, before being appointed to Glastonbury Health Centre in 1987.
In 1992, she transferred to Williton Hospital, and then started working at Minehead Hospital in 1995 as a staff nurse in the outpatients department.
She retired from Minehead Hospital in February, 2007, but returned a few months later to again work in the outpatients department.
Linda Arscott has 36 years’ NHS service after starting as a student nurse in Frenchay School of Nursing, Bristol.
In 1975, she started as a staff nurse with Wiltshire Health Authority and then moved to Hertfordshire Health Authority as a staff nurse.
She moved to Somerset in 1988 and joined Minehead Hospital as a staff nurse on the wards.
Linda was made acting sister on the medical ward in1990 and later went to the nearby Irnham Lodge medical centre as sister of the day hospital until it was relocated to the hospital site in 1994.
Since then, she has worked as sister responsible for the outpatient department of Minehead Hospital.

• Our photograph shows (left to right) staff nurses Christine Bard and Tracey Griffin, outpatients sister Linda Arscott, matron Sue Meade, and primary care trust chairman Jane Barrie. Photo submitted.

Minehead Hospital admissions suspended after virus outbreak among patients

ADMISSIONS to Minehead Hospital (pictured) have been stopped after an outbreak among patients of the extremely unpleasant gastric illness Norovirus.
The hospital announced today that no patients would be admitted to its inpatient ward until the virus had been eradicated.
Norovirus was discovered in the 22-bed hospital yesterday after five patients fell ill with symptoms of the common, but infectious viral gastroenteritis.
Hospital Matron Sue Meade said the suspension of inpatient admissions was a precautionary measure carried out to reduce the risk of spreading the infection to other patients or staff.
She said additional cleaning was being carried out on the ward, and the affected patients would not be discharged until at least 48 hours after their symptoms had stopped.
Mrs Meade said visitors could help prevent the spread of infection by following these simple infection control measures:

• All visitors should wash their hands before going onto ward or patient areas and remember to use the alcohol gel hand rub available throughout the hospital
• Anybody who has had gastric illness themselves within the last 48 hours should not visit
• Visiting to the ward should be limited to two people at a time
• Young children should not be taken onto the ward
• People visiting patients on the affected ward should not then visit a patient in another part of the hospital

The hospital’s outpatient clinics, x ray, physiotherapy department and its minor injury unit were operating as normal and were unaffected by the infection control measures.
Norovirus exists in the community and although not usually serious, it is extremely infectious.
Nursing homes, hospitals, and schools are particularly vulnerable to outbreaks.
The virus can be spread by contact with an infected person or surfaces or objects contaminated with it.
Thoroughly washing hands is an essential means of reducing the spread of the virus.

• Three wards of Musgrove Park Hospital, in Taunton, were closed to new admissions yesterday because of a similar outbreak of norovirus.