Staff

Who's who on the ward?

Welford Ward is staffed by a multi-disciplinary team of nurses, health care support workers, occupational therapists, dieticians and medical staff. From day to day you will probably have most contact with the mental health nurses, health care support workers, occupational therapists and the ward clerk. All staff have name badges and can be identified on our photo board on the ward. A member of the team will be allocated to you to act as your named nurse.

There are also other people that you may have regular contact with such as the psychiatrists, therapists, clinical psychologists, the ward dietician as well as catering and cleaning staff.

There will also be other people who visit the ward occasionally and may be involved in your care in some way such as, social workers and pharmacists.

You may also be asked if you would be willing to talk with one of our researchers or students in training but you are not obliged to do so and if you do not want to, this will not affect your care in any way.

Qualified Nurses

The qualified nurses on the ward have completed specialist training in mental health nursing and will provide treatment and care to meet your psychological, physical and social needs.

Named Nurse

A qualified mental health nurse with post registration experience and training in the care of people with eating disorders. Your named nurse will oversee your nursing care on the ward and will meet with you regularly to review your progress. Welford Ward operates a team nursing system and each shift you will be allocated a nurse from within your named nurse team. A named nurse is sometimes referred to as your key worker.

Occupational Therapists

Occupational therapists are qualified health professionals who use meaningful and purposeful activities to assess and treat people with physical and mental health conditions. They work as part of a team to identify problems caused by people’s conditions and find ways of coping with these to encourage independence and a better quality of life.

Healthcare Support Worker

Healthcare support workers are unqualified nursing staff working on the ward under guidance of qualified healthcare professionals. They make an important contribution to high quality care delivered on the ward.

Ward Clerk

The ward clerk works to ensure the smooth running of the ward by supporting clinical staff and undertaking administrative and secretarial tasks.

Psychiatrist

A psychiatrist is a doctor who specialises in the diagnosis and treatment of people who have mental health problems. Psychiatrists have undergone specialist training and may diagnose illness, prescribe medication and forms of appropriate treatment.

Consultant Psychiatrist

A consultant psychiatrist is an experienced mental health doctor with additional training in psychiatry. The consultant is medically responsible for the care of people receiving mental health services and also supervises junior doctors in postgraduate training.

Dietician

A dietician provides impartial advice about nutrition and health. The dietician on Langley Ward works largely in an advisory capacity with the nursing staff on the ward but will see individual patients at the request of the multidisciplinary team.

Therapists

A therapist is an experienced mental health professional with a health related qualification, usually in nursing, occupational therapy or psychology who has undertaken additional training. Therapists help people to be more in control of their own lives by enabling them to understand themselves and their relationships with others. They provide therapy on a one to one basis and also in groups. There are many different types of psychotherapy (also known as talking therapies).

Clinical Psychologist

A clinical psychologist has a psychology degree together with clinical training in psychology. Clinical psychologists are trained in research, assessment and the application of different psychological therapies.

Care Co-ordinator

Your care co-ordinator will work with you to ensure that your personalised care plan is implemented. The care co-ordinator has overall responsibility for your care, and he, or she, will monitor the services you receive. This will include ensuring that all the professionals involved in your care are working together and that regular reviews of your care are undertaken. Your care co-ordinator may be a member of staff working on the ward or may be someone from your county eating disorder service.

Pharmacist

A pharmacist is a healthcare professional who ensures that the medication that service users receive is safe, effective and appropriate.

Social Worker

Social workers have specialist training and experience in assessing mental health difficulties and are familiar with the problems experienced by users of mental health services and their families. They will organise social care support for people in contact with mental health services, such as helping with housing and getting welfare benefits.

Students

An important part of our work is training the doctors, nurses and other professionals for the future. Students in training regularly spend time working on the ward. All students are supervised by fully-qualified staff members. On occasions, we may ask if you are happy for a student to provide your treatment. You have the right to say no, and we will fully respect this. This will not affect the care that you receive

Researchers

You will be approached by one of our researchers and asked to complete a series of questionnaires during your stay on the ward. We would be very grateful for your assistance with this.

We strive to provide the best possible care and constantly evaluate our service. We have to evidence, to the NHS, that the care we provide is effective and the data we collect helps us to do this. Data is stored anonymously and is grouped to give an overall picture of our service outcomes and does not report individual patient data. The data we collect is used to inform the changes we make to our service.

Should you not wish to complete these questionnaires, this will not affect the care you receive.