A man has become our first patient to undergo a new heart procedure which saves people having to travel across Yorkshire for treatment.

David Morris underwent Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) after Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust was commissioned to set up the new service by NHS England.

Performed at Castle Hill Hospital, heart patients in Hull, the East Riding, North Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire no longer have to travel to Sheffield or Leeds for treatment.

Mr Morris, now back home and recovering well, said: “It’s been fantastic and I am now able to walk into town again.

“I am 86 and my wife’s main carer so travelling to Leeds or Sheffield would have been difficult for us.

“Having it done here has made a big difference to us and meant my wife was able to visit me every day.”

Some patients with heart disease are not considered fit or well enough for major heart surgery if they require valve replacements. Instead, they are often suitable for TAVI, which puts less strain on the body as the heart does not need to be stopped and placed on bypass.

During the procedure, a catheter with a balloon on the tip is inserted into an artery in either the upper leg or the chest which is then passed into the heart and positioned near the opening of the aortic value. The balloon is then inflated, creating space for a new tissue value which is put in position and expanded.

Mr Morris started experiencing chest pain while walking around Cottingham and he was referred to the Centre for Cardiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery at Castle Hill Hospital by his GP.

Tests showed his heart valve was restricted, causing him to experience chest pain and extreme tiredness, and Consultant Interventional Cardiologist Dr Raj Chelliah, who leads the TAVI service, realised Mr Morris would be a suitable patient for the treatment.

Mr Morris underwent TAVI under general anaesthetic in March and stayed in hospital for six days before he was well enough to go home.

Dr Chelliah said: “TAVI is an excellent procedure for some patients who may not be suitable for major heart surgery. It is less invasive, meaning patients can spend less time in hospital and can have a far quicker recovery time.

“For patients like Mr Morris, it can be a far better option for them as not only can they have the surgery right here, much closer to their homes and their families, it also takes less toll on their bodies which means they are able to recover more quickly and get back on their feet.

“We’re really pleased with Mr Morris’s progress since his procedure and look forward to offering this treatment to more patients that are suitable across our region.”

Caring is in the blood for 72-year-old nursing auxiliary Millie Riches who retires from hospital life today

She recalls with great fondness the time when she was asked by a senior nurse to leave the ward because she was ‘making the patients laugh too much’. She lights up when she recalls  another patient who refused to get out of bed, and was found dusting shortly afterwards using other patients’ underwear taken from their lockers.

As 72-year-old Mildred Riches, Millie to her friends, prepares to retire from hospital life, it’s clear she has a wealth of experience, memories and lasting friendships to take with her.

Millie is a nursing auxiliary, part of Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s pain management team working across East Riding Community Hospital and Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham. She has spent the past nine years working as part of this close knit team, caring for people who need help with back pain, shoulder pain, and conditions such as sciatica and fibromyalgia.

She hasn’t always worked in the pain team, however; when Millie first joined the hospital trust way back in 1984, she began in orthopaedics. Over her 35 year career, she’s spent time in many other areas including elderly care, gynaecology, paediatrics and the eye clinic.

“There’ aren’t many places I haven’t worked over the years”, she jokes.

Millie, who lives in Hessle, has cared for hundreds if not thousands of people over the course of her career.

“I’ve always been a caring type of person so I’ve always been drawn to hospital roles. I may have dabbled in other jobs, but I’ve always come back to hospital life.

“I’ve worked in the Hull Royal tower block, at Princess Royal Hospital, in the IVF Unit and in the old Kingston General Hospital. In that time, I’ve met a lot of people; lots of patients come in very ill or depressed, so I’ve always seen it as my role to make them feel better.

“They say laughter is the best medicine and I’ve had so many laughs with patients over the years; I was once asked to go off the ward when I worked in gynaecology by the Sister because I was making the women laugh too much; I literally had patients in stitches in stitches!

“But it’s also the little things that make people feel valued and cared for; when I worked in the elderly day centre at Kingston General, I could be doing anything from bathing a patient to cutting their nails or doing their hair. People often feel better inside if they’re presentable outside, and I used to love making people feel nice and comfortable; it really has been a lifelong passion of mine.”

When asked what she plans to do in retirement, there was no hesitation for Millie:

“I’ll be asking to come back on the nurse bank!

“I really love my job, and I’m not just saying that. I’m proud to work for the hospital trust and I shall really miss the people that I work with and the patients that I see. I can’t sit down all day, I need to keep busy, so I’m still hoping to come back for a few hours a week.”

Further probing reveals Millie has a partner, Kevin, two sons, four grandchildren, and two great grandchildren with a third due any day now.

“It will be nice to spend more time with the family”, she says. “I’ve always enjoyed cake decorating so that’s something I might look into again, I like bird watching, and I keep asking my partner for a dog, so maybe that’s something I can keep pestering him for…”

And when asked what advice she’d give to nursing staff just starting out in the profession, Millie keeps it simple:

“You just need to get on with it. Be strong, take an interest in people, be your own person, and enjoy your work and your patients.

“If I could have my time again, I would do my full nurse training, but I really can’t complain as I’ve absolutely loved it, I’ve loved my time in the health service.”

And the scores of people who saw Millie off at a special lunchtime gathering today; current and former colleagues and family members; are testament to just how popular and how well respected this lady this.

There may be the odd tear of sadness in contrast to the many years of laughter, but her eyes won’t be cloudy for long; no doubt she’ll be wanting to arrange her next shift.

Old wheelchairs no longer required by hospital patients are to be sent to Africa to help children and adults who have had limbs blown off by landmines.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is preparing to transport 34 wheelchairs, once destined for recycling as scrap metal, to Disabled Equipment Sent Overseas (DESO).

Environmental Support Officer Gavin Lee discovered the charity’s work as he searched for a solution to prevent still-usable equipment being sent for scrap metal.

He said: “I’m always looking for ways of saving waste in the NHS and I knew there had to be a better way of recycling these so they can actually be used to help people.

“We are so lucky to have the NHS so when we need equipment like crutches and zimmer frames to help us walk or wheelchairs when we can’t, we get them.

“People in developing countries who are born with disabilities or lose a limb through standing on a landmine have to crawl about on their stomachs or shuffle on their backsides because they do not have access to the equipment that can help them.

“I just thought we could help them.”

The charity, based in Kent, was set up by  Mavis and Eddie Hyde to collect and recycle equipment which would be disposed of unnecessarily in the UK but could still help disabled people in Ghana.

Gavin, who has worked for the trust for two years, is also sourcing crutches and walking frames which are no longer required by the NHS to add to the collection.

He said: “We’re currently working out the logistics of getting the equipment down to the charity but I hope to take it to them in the next few weeks.”

Caption (l to r): Leon Rouse, Gavin Lee and Elliot Arnold

Midwives and staff at the Fatima Allam Birth Centre in Hull have just welcomed their 1,000^th baby into the world.

Alfie Davey became the centre’s 1,000^th new arrival when he was born on May 4, weighing 8lbs 9oz.

Mum Nikita, 32, and dad Thomas , 33, claimed the honour when their son was born under water in one of the centre’s birthing pools.

Nikita, Oscar and baby Alfie

Nikita said: “We didn’t know until after Alfie was born that he was the 1,000^th baby because there was another woman in one of the other rooms and staff didn’t know which of us would be first.

“It was a fantastic experience and the staff were just lovely. We’re glad Alfie’s birth was special for them as well.”

The £470,000 birth centre was opened two years ago by Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust for women with low-risk pregnancies who could have their babies supported by midwives, without the need for medical intervention.

It was created to offer women more choice thanks to a major £370,000 donation by Fatima Allam, wife of Hull businessman and philanthropist Dr Assem Allam, and her family, with the trust contributing £100,000 to the project.

Under the guidance of Mrs Allam, three rooms – Lotus, Jasmine and Persea ­ – were decorated in the style of a luxury hotel, with each featuring a birthing bed, birthing pool, en-suite wet room and muted colour changing light scheme. Faux wood panelling conceals medical equipment, all within easy reach of midwives.

The birth centre is proving hugely popular with couples, with births rising from 23 a month when it first opened in 2017 to 55 a month now.

Nikita, who works in the civil service, and Thomas, an architect, hadn’t thought about using the birth centre before Alfie arrived and were prepared to “go with the flow” instead of making a birth plan.

The couple’s first son Oscar, now three, had been born in a birthing pool in the labour and delivery suite at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital and Nikita had no complications or concerns throughout her second pregnancy with Alfie.

Nikita with baby Alfie

When his wife went into labour three days before Alfie’s due date, Thomas phoned ahead to the labour ward and by the time they arrived at hospital at around 3.15am on May 4, they were shown to the Fatima Allam Birth Centre.

Nikita said: “I’d heard about the birth centre from a friend but I hadn’t really thought about going there. I’d just gone in and that’s where I was taken.

“They had seen in my notes that I had a water birth with Oscar so we were taken to the birth centre. They’d already run the bath and got everything ready for us so we didn’t even have to wait.”

The couple, of Newport, East Yorkshire, were only in the centre for 40 minutes before Alfie was born and Nikita was supported by midwives Becky Broom and Robyn Preston and midwifery assistant Jane Thompson.

The couple were able to return to their home in Newport, East Riding, with Alfie at 6pm that same day.

Nikita said: “My whole labour lasted just three hours and I can definitely recommend a water birth.”

Head of midwifery Janet Cairns said: “The Fatima Allam Birth Centre is a wonderful facility Hull can be proud of as it increases a woman’s options when they are deciding where and how they would like to give birth.

“Seeing our 1000^th baby born at the centre is a fantastic milestone to reach and we are pleased so many women and their partners have chosen to have their babies at the Fatima Allam Birth Centre.

Thomas with Oscar and baby Alfie

“Alongside our labour and delivery suite at Hull Women and Children’s and home births, the birth centre is proving to be a valuable addition to maternity services for women from Hull and the East Riding.”

Katie Headlam, Midwifery Sister at the Fatima Allam Birth Centre, said: “We are so lucky to have the birth centre, thanks primarily to the generosity of the Allam Family, here in Hull and we’re so proud that Alfie has become our 1000^th baby.

“The feedback we receive from women who have chosen to use the birth centre has been fantastic and we’re happy to help provide a beautiful start to life for our new arrivals and their parents in relaxing and comfortable surroundings.”

If you would like to find out more about the Fatima Allam Birth Centre, speak to your midwife or attend one of the monthly HEY Baby Carousel events held on the last Wednesday of every month, 6-8pm, in the Clinical Skills Building in Fountain Street, next to the Eye Hospital. The next event will take place on Wednesday, May 29.

They are the patients who thought they had run out of options to tackle their breathlessness, chest pain, fainting and dizziness.

But now, patients with heart disease are being offered the chance of improved health and a better quality of life at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

The trust has become the third centre in Yorkshire and the Humber to perform Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) for patients who were previously considered too frail or unwell to undergo major heart surgery.

Dr Raj Chelliah, the Interventional Cardiologist who is the trust’s TAVI lead, said: “In the past, patients in Hull, the East Riding, North Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire had to travel around two hours or more to either Sheffield or Leeds if they were considered suitable for the treatment.

“Now, we can offer them this life-changing procedure much closer to home.

“It is making a huge difference to patients with aortic valve disease who were not considered suitable for major heart surgery.”

This month, the second list got underway at the Centre for Cadiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery following the success launch of TAVI in March.

The patient in their 80s is wheeled into the Cath Lab at the centre based at Castle Hill Hospital. Their anxiety is obvious and understandable.

But, surrounded by the anaesthetist and the friendly, dedicated and highly skilled Cath Lab Team, they are reassured and comforted until they fall under.

Theatre Nurses, Operating Department Practitioners and support staff under the guidance of Senior Sister Claire Bradley prepare for the procedure while the Radiographers get in position and the Interventional Cardiologists get scrubbed and gowned.

Anaesthesia takes around an hour and there are plans for Hull to follow the other centres in offering conscious sedation, which could see the procedure performed under local anaesthetic. This will mean less impact on the patient as well as the potential for more patients to be put on the list because of the procedure could be performed more quickly.

We’re given heavy wraparound lead aprons and gilets to wear over our scrubs to protect us from the continuous x-rays carried out while the patient is moved from the trolley onto the operating table to give the surgeons a view of what they’re doing on giant screens.

Dr Chelliah, assisted by Dr Joseph John and Dr Ben Davison, take up their positions as the patient is prepared for surgery.

In TAVI, a catheter or hollow tube with a balloon on the tip is inserted through arteries in the patient’s groin. The catheter is then passed into the heart and is positioned near the opening of the aortic valve.

The balloon is inflated to create space for a new tissue valve, which is then put in position and expanded, with the redundant and diseased value pushed out to the side.

But before one surgical instrument is lifted, the team fall silent for the WHO surgical check list, with all the patient’s details, allergies and condition checked and confirmed by everyone in the room, regardless of their job title.

And then we begin. Incisions are made in the patient’s groin while pacing wires and markers are inserted to guide the surgical team.

In the corner, a huge box is opened. It contains the TAVI delivery system, a complex network of tubes and wires which will be fed through the patient’s arteries to put the valve in place.

The 26mm valve has been selected specifically for this patient to prevent leaks. Looking at it encased in wire mesh on a table, it’s hard to imagine how it will ever end up in place, given the narrowness of the catheter. But then the magic begins.

The valve can be reshaped by cold water so it is placed in a trough containing two litres of ice-cold water before it is crimped into the delivery system and handed over to the surgical team.

Then, under the watchful eye of a surgical proctor assigned to guide and support our staff through the early days of TAVI, Dr Chelliah and Dr John feed the catheter through the patient’s artery with dexterity and skills, following the instructions of “half a turn” or “quarter of a turn”.

These are movements of tenths of millimetres but you’d never know the pressure these doctors are under as they go about their business. It is humbling.

Within half an hour, the valve is inflated and in place, the delivery system is removed and the closure work begins to stitch up the patient’s arteries. But the pressure isn’t off, as there’s a risk of severe bleeding and complications around the insertion sites.

Not today. It all goes to plan and in a matter of minutes, the patient is ready to be wheeled to recovery.

TAVI nurse Alan Fussey has watched the entire procedure but, really, his role is getting the patient to this point and looking after them once it’s over. He’s in theatre as the patient’s advocate. He’s built up a relationship with them over the weeks and months and he’s with them now.

He works in the clinic alongside Dr Chelliah, helping to identify patients who may be suitable for the procedure.

For those too frail or sick for major heart surgery, TAVI can be an option as the procedure puts less strain on the body because the heart does not need to be stopped and placed on bypass. It also avoids people having a large cut on their chests and can mean people recover more quickly than if they had undergone conventional surgery.

Alan said: “Patients are referred to Dr Chelliah and I go into clinic with him to discuss with the patient their suitability for TAVI.

“These patients have been turned down for surgery so TAVI is the only option. We then carry out investigations, arranging ECHOs and CT scans and, once they’re considered suitable, they are added to the list.”

Sometimes, it doesn’t work out as everyone has hoped and the tests show the patient isn’t suitable for TAVI. “It’s seen as a ‘last chance’ so, sometimes, we have to tell them that the last chance isn’t an option for them and that can be very hard to hear.”

But as the patient is wheeled out of the Cath Lab and into recovery, it’s been a success.

They will be closely monitored with all the usual post-op checks – blood pressure, heart rhythm and the like – but the insertion sites will be closely monitored too along with pulses in the feet to check circulation.

Then, hopefully within days, they’ll be well enough to go home to a new life, able to once more lead a life they may have thought was over.

A hospital team saved a woman from bleeding to death after she developed a rare complication weeks before she was due to give birth to her baby girl.

Mother-of-two Sammy-Jo Medcalf, 28, was told she had placenta accreta, a condition affecting fewer than two pregnant women in every 10,000 including reality TV star Kim Kardashian.

Now, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has produced a video of the highly skilled team of interventional radiologists, obstetricians, surgeons, paediatricians, anaesthetists, theatre nurses, midwives and operating department practitioners working together to save Sammy Jo and her baby daughter Indi.

Sammy-Jo said: “You never expect this to happen to you. I’d never even heard of it. But if it had to happen to me, I’m really lucky that I live in Hull.

“I’m just so grateful to the team. They were brilliant.”

Vivek Shrivastava, Consultant in Interventional Radiology, said: “The video shows how Hull is leading the field in multi-disciplinary team working for complex surgeries like Sammy-Jo’s.

“Other large teaching hospitals can do this procedure but what makes Hull unique is how we work together as a team, with the mother and baby remaining our focus.

“As well as having the experience and skills, we have all the correct equipment and facilities in place in a surgical environment which supports and enables collaborative working.

“Each member of the team plays their role and then step back to allow others to do their work. We may not know each other before the procedure but support each other throughout the process.”

Sammy-Jo and Luke with George and Indi

Samantha and husband Luke, 27, who also have a two-year-old son George, learned she had placenta praevia at their 20-week scan, where the placenta covers all or part of the entrance to the womb. In 90 per cent of cases, the placenta, providing vital nutrients and oxygen to the baby, moves upwards as the womb grows.

A further scan at 31 weeks showed Sammy had developed placenta accreta, formerly known as morbidly adherent placenta and a life-threatening complication of pregnancy where the placenta became embedded deep in the wall of the womb. Women with the condition risk bleeding to death once their babies are born and often require hysterectomies to save their lives.

Consultant Dr Uma Rajesh explained to the couple their baby would be delivered by caesarean section before Sammy-Jo underwent surgery to stop major blood loss.

Surgery was planned for March 21 in the Interventional Radiology Theatre Suite on Level 2 of Hull Royal Infirmary when Sammy-Jo was 36 weeks and three days into her pregnancy.

The 25-strong team was assembled and briefed, with the interventional radiologists working first to ensure Sammy-Jo would be safe once her baby was born.

Dr Shrivastava said: “People talk about keyhole surgery but this was more like pinhole surgery.

“We used wires and fine catheters, some of which were no more than 0.8 millimetres in width, to insert occlusion balloons into her pelvic arteries. We then injected a special foam to block the arteries. Her baby was still in her womb so we had to use minimal screening and no x-ray.

“The interventional radiology team of six consultants, 20 nurses and six radiographers perform 1,500 complex pinhole surgeries a year so this is something we are accustomed to, although we only see this condition around two or three times a year.”

Once the interventional radiologists had carried out their preparatory work, obstetrician Dr Uma Rajesh carried out the caesarean section. Indi was handed over to paediatricians and neonatal nurses before being taken to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Luke, who was waiting outside while his wife was in surgery, accompanied his newborn daughter to NICU while Sammy-Jo’s mother texted regular updates after regular briefings from hospital staff.

Sammy-Jo lost two litres of blood after Indi was born but, thanks to the skill of the interventional radiologists, she did not require a hysterectomy as the balloons and the foam had stopped the bleeding. Her arteries were then sealed by tiny plugs which are absorbed by the body within weeks.

Sammy-Jo said: “I had been told to expect a lot of health professionals in the operating theatre and they were just amazing, explaining everything to me at every step of the way.”

Taken to Intensive Care to recover, Sammy-Jo was finally able to hold her daughter for the first time around seven hours after she was born when she was wheeled to NICU. Mother and daughter were fully reunited in the hospital’s transitional care ward when Indi was three days old.

Recovering at home in Kingswood with Indi, now six weeks old, Sammy-Jo said: “I was really frightened and it was a bit overwhelming but there’s nothing else for it. I knew this was the only way Indi was going to come out and I just had to be brave and get on with it.”

Free event for local businesses held in support of Dying Matters Awareness Week

Whether you’re a colleague, a manager or a business owner, bereavement in the workplace is always a tricky subject; what do you say? What should you do? And how do you make sure your staff feel supported at the same time as keeping the wheels of business turning?

As part of Dying Matters Awareness Week, local experts in this field will hold a special event for employers of all sizes on Tuesday 14^th May.

According to the bereavement charity, Cruse, one in ten people in the UK is thought to be affected by bereavement at any given time. Whilst most bereaved people will cope reasonably well at work, others struggle to deal with their loss, and this can impact on both productivity and relationships with co-workers.  Knowing how to approach a colleague who’s dealing with grief, what to say to them, and how to balance their needs with those of the workplace can be fraught with difficulty.

To help local employers support all of their staff with this most delicate of subjects, the Bereavement Team at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is joining with Cruse Bereavement Care, Macmillan Cancer Support and Dove House Hospice, to host ‘At a Loss for Words’, a dedicated breakfast seminar for businesses on Tuesday 14^th May.

Sponsored by Macmillan, the event is free to attend and will take place at the Willerby Manor Hotel. Delegates will be able to hear first-hand experiences of managing bereavement from employers and employees, attend workshops, put questions to the expert panel, and receive a bereavement resource pack to take away and use in the workplace. Speakers include John Creasey from Dove House Hospice, who will help delegates to better understand bereavement, and Lizzie Jordan, a mother, widow and award-winning social entrepreneur who will provide a first-hand account of working life after bereavement.

Janis Hostad is a Lecturer and Education and Development Coordinator based at the Queen’s Centre in Cottingham, and will be among those presenting on the day. She says:

“Everyone will be affected by bereavement at some stage. Loss and grief can be difficult enough for people to speak about with their loved ones, but for employers, who understandably have to have one eye on their needs of their business, staff bereavement can pose extra challenges.

“Our special breakfast seminar will offer local employers the chance to hear from experts and ask questions which they may previously have been worried about asking. From compassionate leave and sources of bereavement support, right through to  understanding the  employee’s ongoing needs as they  return to work, our experts will give an insight into how best to deal with bereavement in the interests of the employee, co-workers, and the business as a whole.”

The breakfast seminar is suitable for employers of any size who would like assistance with bereavement issues, and is being held to coincide with national Dying Matters Awareness Week, 13^th – 19^th May 2019.

Janis continues:

“Loss and bereavement can be devastating, and people can find it very awkward just knowing what to say to someone who has lost a loved one, so many people avoid talking about these issues. It can be particularly difficult to know how best to help bereaved people at work.

“By offering appropriate support to bereaved staff and colleagues, we not only help them, but our workplace and our business too.”

‘At a Loss for Words’ will take place on the morning of Tuesday 14^th May at the Willerby Manor Hotel, Carr Lane, Willerby.

For more information, contact Sandra Kelly on 01482 461260 or email sandra.kelly@hey.nhs.uk

For Carol Rushton, one of the longest serving nurses at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, the best part of her job is not knowing what’s about to come through the door.

Carol, a senior perioperative practitioner, works nights in the theatres at Hull Royal Infirmary. Before midnight, she helps care for patients requiring routine surgery from needing their appendix removed to back surgery and the repair of perforated bowels.

But, after midnight, only people facing “life or limb-threatening emergencies” are brought to theatre for life-saving surgery after accidents or attacks, major traumatic events or for surgery to save their arms or legs.

“I love not knowing what we’re going to get coming in,” said Carol, 61. “The one thing we do say is when it’s a bank holiday or a full moon, tighten your seat belts.”

To mark International Nurses Day on May 12, celebrated around the world every year to mark the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is shining a spotlight on some of its nurses.

This year also marks the 100^th anniversary of the Nurses Registration Act, created in 1919 to establish a register of nurses and setting up the General Nursing Council.

Carol has clocked up almost 45 years’ service, beginning her career back in 1974.

She grew up on Hessle Road before moving to Willerby with her family in 1967. Although she wanted to work in banking, her maths wasn’t strong so she decided to follow a friend who had started pre-nursing training in 1974 at the age of 16.

Known as Daffodil or Buttercup nurses because of their bright yellow uniforms, they spent half of the week at Hull College and the other half working in hospitals including Hull Royal, Princess Royal and De La Pole Hospital.

Carol started her official nurse training in 1976, working in neurosurgery when she qualified as a State Registered Nurse in 1979. The following year, she married husband Paul, an ambulance man who went on to become one of the first fully qualified paramedics in 1989, and they had two children.

Keen to broaden her nursing skills, Carol worked in infectious diseases and with elderly medical patients in the 1980s but realised her heart lay in surgical nursing.

“I missed the bustle of surgery and looking after patients who perhaps needed more intensive nursing after surgery but jobs were hard to come by in the 1980s,” she said.

Hull Royal was looking for theatre staff so Carol seized the opportunity and spoke to the nursing officers who arranged for her to start in November 1981. She’s been there ever since, apart from a brief time in the mid-80s when she worked in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Each night shift, she co-ordinates the workload for Hull Royal Infirmary, ensuring each theatre has the right staff and the right mix of skills. Carol and the team look after patients before their operations, during surgery and in the initial recovery period before they are moved into ICU or back onto a ward.

Because of the nature of the job, there are some patients who don’t make it. Carol uses her experience to support more junior members of the team so they can be ready for the next patient arriving at hospital with a life-threatening emergency.

“I try to help people after they’ve seen things they might not be used to seeing or have ever experienced,” she said. “When you’re in charge of running theatres, you do get a lot of junior staff coming through so it’s important to support them.

“I always try to advise people to leave work at work, to go back to their families and be with them but it can and does still affect me.

“There will always be the cases that stick in your mind, the people that died when you weren’t expecting them to or the ones that experience unforeseen complications.

“You always remember them, you learn from them but we have to move on.”

There have been many high points in a career spanning five decades. But with a desire to support organ donation and having worked with transplant teams over the years, being asked to be part of the scrub team in the operating theatre with renowned transplant surgeon Professor Giles Toogood ranks high on her list.

She said: “He came to us to retrieve organs from a patient for transplant surgery and used to bring his own scrub team but, this time, something happened and I got to scrub in with him. I had never seen anything like that before.

“I’ve worked with some fantastic people over the years and I couldn’t do my job without the support of every member of the theatre team.”

It’s a tough job, full of pressure and requiring all of Carol’s experience and nursing skills but she wouldn’t swap it for the world.

“I don’t see myself as some kind of Florence Nightingale with my lamp,” she said. “I just think nursing is who I am and I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

When you ask what she loves most about her job, Helen Tointon, a paediatric specialist nurse looking after children with respiratory problems, doesn’t hesitate.

“Patients, families and my colleagues,” she says.

It’s plain to see Helen still feels passionate about her job and her patients after starting her career at a time when the UK first entered the European Economic Community, an Elvis Presley concert in Hawaii was watched by more people than those who watched the moon landings and Hull’s trawlers were engaged in the Cod Wars with Iceland.

Starting her career in 1973, Helen is one of the longest-serving nurses working for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust as the organisation prepares to mark International Nurses Day on May 12, the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale.

This year also marks 100 years since the creation of the Nurses Registration Act in 1919 which set up the General Nursing Council and established training standards of nurses.

Trust archivist Mike Pearson will be exhibiting documents, photographs and artefacts to chart Hull’s nursing history outside Kingston Restaurant at Hull Royal on Friday.

Helen started her pupil training as a State Enrolled Nurse in 1975 after two years in nurses’ residence as a Buttercup cadet nurse.

She qualified in 1977 and spent five years on Ward 4 at Hull Royal looking after men with traumatic orthopaedic injuries. From there, she moved into children’s nursing spending her first two years on night shift before transferring to day duties.

She is married and brought up her three sons, at one time all three of them under five, while holding down her job.

In 1996, her nursing officer encouraged all enrolled nurses in the paediatric nursing team to study to become a registered children’s nurse and she qualified in 1998.

But she knew academia was a way to build up her knowledge so embarked on a series of training modules and qualifications to enhance her skills in paediatric nursing.

She helped to develop an acute pathway for children admitted to hospital with asthma and between 2009 and 2018, she split her time between her hospital nursing job and her advanced learning at the University of Hull, obtaining a degree first then going on to secure a Masters in Leadership in Health and Social Care.

“I didn’t know what to do with myself when I finally finished last year,” she said. “I’ve done all the painting at home because I was at a loss to fill my time.”

At work, Helen runs three nurse-led clinics a week, seeing youngsters with respiratory problems in children’s outpatients at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital. She also takes part in multi-disciplinary team clinics once a week.

Although she splits her time between Women and Children’s and Hull Royal, she’s based herself on the top floor of the tower block to be close to medical and nursing staff dealing with admissions, able to liaise and assess treatment plans for patients.

Helen said: “Everyone always asks me when I am retiring but I’m not thinking about that yet.

“I’m always learning things. I have never got to the point where I think I know it all.

“Every day, I come away and think I need to do some reflection on that or I could have approached something better. I never come away where I think I’ve got nothing more to learn.”

They are the patients who thought they had run out of options to tackle their breathlessness, chest pain, fainting and dizziness.

But now, patients with heart disease are being offered the chance of improved health and a better quality of life at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

The trust has become the third centre in Yorkshire and the Humber to perform Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) for patients who were previously considered too frail or unwell to undergo major heart surgery.

Dr Raj Chelliah, the Interventional Cardiologist who is the trust’s TAVI lead, said: “In the past, patients in Hull, the East Riding, North Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire had to travel around two hours or more to either Sheffield or Leeds if they were considered suitable for the treatment.

“Now, we can offer them this life-changing procedure much closer to home.

“It is making a huge difference to patients with aortic valve disease who were not considered suitable for major heart surgery.”

This week, the Communications Team was invited to watch as the second list got underway at the Centre for Cadiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery following the success launch of TAVI in March.

The patient in their 80s is wheeled into the Cath Lab at the centre based at Castle Hill Hospital. Their anxiety is obvious and understandable.

But, surrounded by the anaesthetist and the friendly, dedicated and highly skilled Cath Lab Team, they are reassured and comforted until they fall under.

Theatre Nurses, Operating Department Practitioners and support staff under the guidance of Senior Sister Claire Bradley prepare for the procedure while the Radiographers get in position and the Interventional Cardiologists get scrubbed and gowned.

Anaesthesia takes around an hour and there are plans for Hull to follow the other centres in offering conscious sedation, which could see the procedure performed under local anaesthetic. This will mean less impact on the patient as well as the potential for more patients to be put on the list because of the procedure could be performed more quickly.

We’re given heavy wraparound lead aprons and gilets to wear over our scrubs to protect us from the continuous x-rays carried out while the patient is moved from the trolley onto the operating table to give the surgeons a view of what they’re doing on giant screens.

Dr Chelliah, assisted by Dr Joseph John and Dr Ben Davison, take up their positions as the patient is prepared for surgery.

In TAVI, a catheter or hollow tube with a balloon on the tip is inserted through arteries in the patient’s groin. The catheter is then passed into the heart and is positioned near the opening of the aortic valve.

The balloon is inflated to create space for a new tissue valve, which is then put in position and expanded, with the redundant and diseased value pushed out to the side.

But before one surgical instrument is lifted, the team fall silent for the WHO surgical check list, with all the patient’s details, allergies and condition checked and confirmed by everyone in the room, regardless of their job title.

And then we begin. Incisions are made in the patient’s groin while pacing wires and markers are inserted to guide the surgical team.

In the corner, a huge box is opened. It contains the TAVI delivery system, a complex network of tubes and wires which will be fed through the patient’s arteries to put the valve in place.

The 26mm valve has been selected specifically for this patient to prevent leaks. Looking at it encased in wire mesh on a table, it’s hard to imagine how it will ever end up in place, given the narrowness of the catheter. But then the magic begins.

The valve can be reshaped by cold water so it is placed in a trough containing two litres of ice-cold water before it is crimped into the delivery system and handed over to the surgical team.

Then, under the watchful eye of a surgical proctor assigned to guide and support our staff through the early days of TAVI, Dr Chelliah and Dr John feed the catheter through the patient’s artery with dexterity and skills, following the instructions of “half a turn” or “quarter of a turn”.

These are movements of tenths of millimetres but you’d never know the pressure these doctors are under as they go about their business. It is humbling.

Within half an hour, the valve is inflated and in place, the delivery system is removed and the closure work begins to stitch up the patient’s arteries. But the pressure isn’t off, as there’s a risk of severe bleeding and complications around the insertion sites.

Not today. It all goes to plan and in a matter of minutes, the patient is ready to be wheeled to recovery.

TAVI nurse Alan Fussey has watched the entire procedure but, really, his role is getting the patient to this point and looking after them once it’s over. He’s in theatre as the patient’s advocate. He’s built up a relationship with them over the weeks and months and he’s with them now.

He works in the clinic alongside Dr Chelliah, helping to identify patients who may be suitable for the procedure.

For those too frail or sick for major heart surgery, TAVI can be an option as the procedure puts less strain on the body because the heart does not need to be stopped and placed on bypass. It also avoids people having a large cut on their chests and can mean people recover more quickly than if they had undergone conventional surgery.

Alan said: “Patients are referred to Dr Chelliah and I go into clinic with him to discuss with the patient their suitability for TAVI.

“These patients have been turned down for surgery so TAVI is the only option. We then carry out investigations, arranging ECHOs and CT scans and, once they’re considered suitable, they are added to the list.”

Sometimes, it doesn’t work out as everyone has hoped and the tests show the patient isn’t suitable for TAVI. “It’s seen as a ‘last chance’ so, sometimes, we have to tell them that the last chance isn’t an option for them and that can be very hard to hear.”

But as the patient is wheeled out of the Cath Lab and into recovery, it’s been a success.

They will be closely monitored with all the usual post-op checks – blood pressure, heart rhythm and the like – but the insertion sites will be closely monitored too along with pulses in the feet to check circulation.

Then, hopefully within days, they’ll be well enough to go home to a new life, able to once more lead a life they may have thought was over.