Heartbeat: Hello my name is… Kelly Papavarnava

September 8, 2022

This month we say hello to Kelly Papavarnava – Deputy Group Director of Nursing – Surgical Services (DGDON).

Kelly joined SWB in March 2022 and being DGDON entails being the clinical lead for surgical services and theatres, focusing on standardisation across all theatres in preparation for our move to Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH), workforce, recruitment and retention. We caught up with her to find out more.

Kelly told us: “I have been a registrant for 21 years – I trained in the West Midlands. I am a dual registrant – a qualified nurse and midwife. My background is predominantly surgery, and I’ve previously worked in research as the lead nurse in Wolverhampton.

“More recently, I have worked in surgery for the last six years, completing my Advanced Clinical Practice MSc, further working as a surgical advanced clinical practitioner. This course allowed me to further develop my skills and knowledge in clinical practice, leadership and management, plus education and research.”

Midland Met plays a vital part in Kelly’s role as surgical services will be moving to our new hospital when it opens in 2024. “MMUH will offer us new, improved and modern facilities, something our team will benefit from,” Kelly told us. “From a theatres viewpoint, we are starting to work with our theatre colleagues across all three sites focusing on theatre standardisation, development of new theatre rotas and integration of staff from all across our sites.

“It will also mean an improved working environment which will benefit patients. Plus, we’ll be able to work more collaboratively with colleagues on one site dedicated to acute care.”