Ben’s Nurse

The Post

April 1 2008 marked the start of Catherine Renwick’s appointment as Ben’s Nurse at the Royal Brompton Hospital. The newly created post of Paediatric Cardiac Electrophysiology Nurse Specialist allows children and their families to benefit from Catherine’s knowledge and skills of working with children with arrhythmias (abnormally fast or slow heart beats) and inherited conditions which predispose them to sudden and sometimes life threatening collapse. Whilst based at the Brompton, Catherine provides support to families across the wide geographic area covered by the hospital, visiting homes and liaising with schools, GPs, and other care workers and interested parties.

Catherine has already made a significant impact in her role. The number of referrals to the groundbreaking nurse specialist service has exceeded all expectations. These are mostly newly diagnosed patients requiring information about their condition and additional support. In addition, over the last six months ten children have benefitted from additional support with schooling, which aims to equip teachers and support staff with vital information about the child’s condition, symptoms to watch for and what to do in the event of an emergency. Most importantly, Catherine advocates as normal a life as possible for the child during such visits, so that the child is not seen as any different from their peers. Her intervention has prevented children from being excluded from school purely as a result of their conditions.

To find out more, read about a typical Monday in the life of Ben’s Nurse and a week in the life of Ben’s Nurse.

Catherine Renwick (right), Ben’s Nurse, seen here with Dr Jan Till MD, Consultant Electrophysiologist at the Royal Brompton Hospital and patron of the Trust

Catherine Renwick

Catherine has been a qualified children’s nurse since 1997 and has worked at The Royal Brompton Hospital since 1999. During that time she has worked on the children’s high dependency unit and then the children’s intensive care unit, mainly focusing on the care of children with congenital or acquired heart disease.

In 2004 she became a children’s cardiac nurse specialist, managing an individual caseload of patients and maintaining contact with children and families in many different hospital and community settings. She sees patients in the children’s out-patient department, on the paediatric ward or in intensive care as in-patients, and closer to home at a local hospital, home or school. As nurse specialist Catherine is key to maintaining a link between family, local hospital and services, and Royal Brompton Hospital.

Catherine says “I am very excited about this new role as electrophysiology nurse specialist or “Ben’s Nurse”. I am especially looking forward to making a significant difference to the lives of those children and families affected by such conditions and also to enhancing the service provided to our patients and their families. I feel very lucky that this post is being funded by The Ben Williams Trust as without its financial support the role would not have been possible.”

The Burdett Trust for Nursing

A major contribution to the funding of Ben’s Nurse has been received from the Burdett Trust for Nursing. The grant covers almost half of the cost of the post for three years, and offers real security for its establishment and development. The Burdett Trust for Nursing makes grants to support the nursing contribution to healthcare, and aims to encourage nurses and other healthcare professionals in a wide range of innovative projects.