Specialist rheumatology nurse takes on national advisory role
A specialist nurse has been appointed to a national advisory role on a project that will be looking at reducing inequality and improving access to paediatric rheumatology services.
Catherine Tranter, who is lead paediatric rheumatology nurse specialist at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has joined the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) project.
“We’re looking to find evidence from the ground up”
Catherine Tranter
GIRFT is an NHS England programme designed to improve the quality of care within the health service by reducing unwarranted variation.
It undertakes clinically led reviews of specialties, combining data analysis with input from senior clinicians to examine how things are currently being done and how they could be improved.
Along with a team of two doctors, a physiotherapist and an occupational therapist, Ms Tranter will lead an in-depth review into inflammatory and non-inflammatory paediatric rheumatology.
It is the first time that paediatric rheumatology has ever been through the GIRFT process, noted Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals.
The review aims to develop pathways, share best practice, and extend support to centres facing challenges, with a particular focus on variation in transition and transfer for inflammatory conditions.
The role will initially involve mapping networks of paediatric rheumatology centres around the country to establish inequalities of care.
Ms Tranter said she would be drawing on her network of other clinical nurse specialists in paediatric rheumatology around the country and looking at areas of best practice.
“We’re looking to find evidence from the ground up,” said Ms Tranter, who is known by colleagues as Kit.
“That’s the beauty of GIRFT, it’s driven by clinicians who have credibility because they’re the ones with an in-depth knowledge of the sub-speciality, delivering the care,” she said.
The role will also involve gathering data to see if there are pockets of the country that see more patients with one condition than another.
In addition, the team will be looking at the workforce within paediatric rheumatology across England, which will support workforce planning and succession planning.
Ms Tranter noted that she was really pleased to put her trust’s Jenny Lind Children’s Hospital “on the map and be a voice for more rural hubs, which gives us a different perspective to urban hubs”.
She added: “I’ve been in my role over 20 years, so it will also be an exciting opportunity to share my knowledge, experience, and expertise to help improve care for our young patients.”
Kat Kitchener, children and young people’s matron at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals, described Ms Tranter as a “hugely proactive member” of the paediatric specialist nurse team.
“We are so excited for Kit to be involved in this project and for her to have the opportunity to shape paediatric rheumatology care of the future,” she said.
“We’re proud and pleased that her dedication has been recognised nationally.”
Meanwhile, GIRFT’s successful non-medical network for colleagues working to improve preoperative assessment (POA) has been shortlisted for the 2024 Nursing Times Awards.
The GIRFT POA network has this month been named as a finalist in the Theatre and Surgical Nursing category at this year’s awards. The winners will be announced in October.
The network, established in 2022, was set up as part of GIRFT’s theatre productivity work, which supports providers and systems to maximise the effectiveness and throughput of their surgical theatres through improvements across the surgical elective pathway.
