We have caught up with the Practice Nursing Award shortlist ahead of this year’s General Practice Awards, run by our publisher Cogora, which will be held on 9 December at a glitzy ceremony at Novotel London West.
The third entry under the spotlight from this year’s shortlist of five is practice nurse Janette Morgan, who works at Practice 2, Keir Hardie Health Park, Merthyr Tydfil in Wales.
Having come from a district nursing background seven years ago, Ms Morgan has shown immense commitment towards general practice, developing her skills in chronic disease management and adapting them to the local population.
In addition to organising clinics and supervising the practice health care assistants, Janette leads on cancer care and significant events audit, and is described by her colleagues as a committed all-rounder.
Over the years, she has become the key person at the practice in dealing with all chronic disease queries, showing dedication and perseverance in gaining competency in the management of these conditions and developing easy-to-follow protocols for most conditions, including diabetes and COPD. She has also been instrumental in helping the team achieve the QAIF targets and has helped her practice immensely in the detection of cancer at an early stage, mainly in patients with COPD.
Her other achievements include significantly decreasing the obesity rate in the local population and tighter control of diabetes. She helps run the well women clinic, baby clinic, INR clinic, paediatric and travel immunisations, and looks after minor ailments. She is also competent in dressings, wound management, and the management of lymphoedema.
Entry highlights
In November 2021, Janette launched a green inhaler initiative, the main target of which was Ventolin, on the basis that it is a main contributor to the total carbon footprint from all inhalers, less effective as a class of inhalers, and is overused.
Janette undertook an audit of all patients on Ventolin and reviewed them, achieving a 60% drop in acute and repeat prescriptions, a project that was over and above her usual clinical duties, reflecting her initiative and commitment to the health of patients and the environment.
And earlier this year, the local University Health Board initiated the ‘COPD cost saving project’ with the aim of reinvesting the savings from respiratory care and pulmonary rehabilitation. The underlying premise was that even if 20% of the target patient population were converted to more sustainable treatment, there would be a saving of over £200,000 annually. An audit done by the local health board pharmacist noted that the target patients had already been converted prior to this initiative being announced and promulgated.
Obesity control has also been a major focus of the practice over the last few years and is showing a downward trend, especially in the under 16s, in a population that is demonstrably higher risk. Janette has achieved this by inculcating nutritional advice in all her encounters with the target cohort, which has in no small part contributed to a nearly 2% reduction in prevalence. Meanwhile, the practice has also become an outlier in its diabetes targets in HbA1C, BP and cholesterol figures.
What she said
‘I feel honoured and grateful that I have been shortlisted. I was not aware that my name had been put forward and when I heard I felt so emotional, as this is one of the nicest gestures that anyone has ever done for me. To be recognised by Dr Nannapaneni [head of practice] for my work and dedication really does mean the world to me. To be nominated in itself is an amazing achievement, amongst well deserved nominees. If I should win the award, it would be one of the proudest moments of my life.’
The first Practice Nursing Award entry we met was St Stephen’s Gate Medical Practice Nursing Team.
You can also read the second entry from the shortlist, nurse practitioner Antonia Alcaraz.
