A NEW Hospital at Night matron has been appointed for Shropshire's two acute hospitals.

Clare Walsgrove will head up the multidisciplinary team that covers the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) throughout the night.

Hospital at Night is a team of nurse practitioners and clinical support workers with advanced clinical skills who currently operate across the medical wards at both the PRH and RSH.

They offer a comprehensive service directly aimed at detecting, assessing and treating a deteriorating patient throughout the night.

Nurse practitioners are able to prescribe to give in-patients greater access to medications in “out of hours” periods – reducing the reliance on junior doctors, who often work long hours.

Clinical support workers are specialists in cannulation, phlebotomy and catheterisation and also support the nurse practitioner in their assessment of the acutely deteriorating patient.

Clare has been a matron at SaTH for nine years and is currently matron for Ward 22RE and Ward 32 at RSH and Ward 9 at PRH.

She has a background across a number of clinical areas including surgery, haematology, emergency and critical care and medicine.

Clare said: “I am absolutely delighted to be taking on this new challenge. It is a new post which is very exciting because it means that I can really shape the role for the benefit of our patients and our staff at the trust.”

Helen Jenkinson, deputy director of nursing at SaTH, said: “We are absolutely delighted that Clare will be leading our Hospital at Night team. It is a developing team and one that will help us to provide the very best care to our patients during the night.”