Mrs Sally Rudge
Sally started her nursing career in Bristol on one of the first degree nursing courses in the country. Her first role was on a progressive orthopaedic ward at the Nuffield in Oxford which used aromatherapy to manage sickness in patients requiring post op analgesia. Having been an ICU patient as a student, after being knocked off her bicycle, Intensive Care (ICU) became an area of particular interest.
She worked in Addenbrookes Adult ICU in Cambridge, doing the adult ICU course and followed this with a year in Paediatric ICU.
Needing a challenge and change, Sally worked in Livingstone Hospital in Zambia, as well as bush clinics and schools while writing a proposal for a relief and development agency that was planning to start a clinic in Livingstone. During those two years she worked in Coventry and Warwick ICU as well as Zambia. The contrast between extreme illness and wealth, extreme poverty and health was a challenge and changed her outlook on the NHS.
Moving to Worcester and starting a family, Sally worked in Worcester Royal Hospital as a Junior then Senior Sister, studying for a teaching qualification and MSc in Advanced Nursing Practice. Critical care is her passion, caring for both critically ill patients and their families, loving the challenge of critical care nursing, knowledge and skills. She has been championing the professional development nursing role on the ICU for several years to deliver the best nursing care that is grounded in evidence-based practice and sharing this knowledge with members of the team.
Reason for applying for the scheme
Having worked in a clinical role throughout the pandemic, several themes have emerged from the situation the NHS has found itself. New ways of working; less constraints and more responsibility taken for decisions made in local situations have transformed the culture within the NHS. These differences need to be held on to and learnt from. This scheme would enable Sally to use her existing skills and experience in order to make a long-term difference to ‘NHS people’, and patients.
She would like to be involved in a project which is bigger than one unit or one hospital in order to broaden her experience in working with other health professionals, seeing the bigger picture and to gain knowledge of local and national projects and politics. Giving care which is great value for money, working within a budget and delivering programmes that are key to the development of the long-term plans for the NHS is a challenge which she would like to be involved in. Understanding the process by which national decisions change local practice and individual patient’s care is a vital part of ensuring that the right decisions are made. Sally would like to be part of that process and gain insight and understanding into it. The NHS needs people who work in it and understand what it is like in order to develop long-term plans that will address the needs and challenges it faces.
