Introducing #goldentime

Monday 12th September saw the launch of a new initiative, #goldentime, which gives Matrons and Heads of Nursing an hour of protected clinical time, every weekday, to work clinically on the adult inpatient wards at Derriford Hospital.

Head of Nursing Sam Rafferty explains: “The initiative has been launched in response to the nursing strategy “Leading Change, Adding Value” which was published earlier this year. Our senior nursing team have made a number of commitments which we will deliver over the coming year.

“Through the initiative we are able to support our teams in delivering clinical care, release them to undertake other key roles or to enable the ward staff to take a tea break.”

The decision to introduce #goldentime has followed a proof of concept where the heads of nursing for medicine and surgery have undertaken a clinical hour, whenever possible between 10-11am each morning since coming in to post.

This time working in the clinical areas has led to a number of changes to improve the patient experience such as the introduction of patient toiletry packs and improvements to the environment (purchase of new patient chairs as an example).