Hello, my name is Peter Towns and I am one of the Associate Directors of Nursing at Newcastle Hospitals.
My key roles include being the Professional Nursing Lead for the Freeman Hospital, as well as having a Trust-wide strategic portfolio for Practice, Education and Workforce.
I also lead on the provision of safe effective care and recruitment and retention of nursing and midwifery staff.
I believe strongly in enabling our staff to access effectual personal and professional development and to champion our inspirational leaders of the future.
My own nursing career began in 1997 when I took up the role of healthcare assistant in a local nursing home where I worked for two years.
Once qualified I worked as a staff nurse in a range of clinical specialties before choosing to focus my career on the care of cancer patients.
Specialising in cancer care
Initially, I was a staff nurse on the regional Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at the RVI and then the Freeman Hospital when both the Clinical Haematology services and the Northern Centre for Cancer Treatment amalgamated and transferred into their new home in the Northern Centre for Cancer Care (NCCC).
It was here that I progressed into the roles of specialist nurse, followed by charge nurse and finally Matron when I managed a large and complex staff group, supporting the development of chemotherapy training and skills.
A particular focus was the flow and wait times for patients receiving day case chemotherapy – this included reviewing the staffing structure, treatment delivery and IT scheduling systems.
I led the development of day case chemotherapy treatment facilities outside of NCCC which helped to reduce patient waiting times and capacity issues along with improving patient experience.
I was also part of the team that developed plans for our now well established chemotherapy service in Carlisle, working on staffing models and building design. Such multi-faceted, complex work was challenging but incredibly rewarding to see come to fruition.
Advocating highest clinical standards
My ambition has always been to support my teams in delivering the highest standards of patient care and the very best quality treatment possible. With this in mind, I supported the wider team in closely reviewing clinical standards and practice development, particularly around the areas of Chemotherapy and IV delivery with a strong focus on infection prevention for immunocompromised patients – something we, as a team, have and will always be passionate about.
Over time I have joined and supported a range of national work streams and led a number of regional training events.
I became involved with the National ‘Nursing Now’ project and worked with Butterfly Books to support the publication of a children’s book entitled “My Daddy is a Nurse” which aims to break gender stereotypes. In reflection of this work I was proud to be presented with a silver Chief Nursing Officer Award in 2020 by Ruth May.
I have a keen interest in leadership and personal development and hold the queens commission in the RAFVR(T), recently retiring at the rank of Squadron Leader.
Nursing Scholarship
Educated to a Masters level, I have more recently been successful in gaining a place on the Florence Nightingale Aspiring Directors of Nursing Scholarship. This has provided me with a valuable opportunity to explore my leadership skills and knowledge and to reflect on how I can better serve my staff and patients in the future.
The Scholarship has been an excellent opportunity for personal development and growth and, I have no doubt, resulted in me becoming a more effective leader – I would strongly encourage others to explore similar scholarship or learning opportunities.
Responsibilities
- Site responsibility for the Freeman Hospital, supporting a large number of directorates with a specific focus on standards of care, patient experience and nursing professional issues
- Overseeing the provision of safe effective care and recruitment and retention of nursing and midwifery staff
- Providing expert advice and support to senior leaders on issues around on practice and professional development of nursing and midwifery staff
- Contribution to a wide variety of professional nursing workstreams such as practice development, conference planning, staff support and clinical/professional assurance
- Medicine management, including patient safety, policy guidance, protocol development, non medical prescriber process and governance
- Lead on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in regards to patient care, development and support of EDI related policies and guidance and management of the Trust’s Interpreting services
- Provision of nursing support and leadership for the Trust’s Prevention and Wellbeing agenda
