Heartbeat: Becky brings new perspective to clinical lead role

July 22, 2019

Clinical lead roles have traditionally been occupied by consultants but Becky O’Dwyer is a notable exception. An experienced lead nurse within critical care, and deputy group director of nursing for surgical services, Becky applied to become joint clinical lead earlier this year. She was successful at interview and has been overseeing critical care together with her longstanding colleague Dr Nick Sherwood since April.

“Historically we had one medical consultant as the clinical lead for critical care. Then, four or five years ago, me and my colleague John Bleasdale decided that we would do it jointly. That was the first time that it had happened and it worked well because we’re quite complementary personalities,” explains Nick.

“John stepped down six months ago and for a short period of time I was trying to manage it on my own in the time I had available. Winter was a very busy and difficult time to lead the service.”

Although critical care performed well enough to be rated outstanding by the CQC, Nick knew that he needed some help and Becky stepped in to support him. They had first met back in 1993, when working together at North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary.

“I came here in 1996 as a band 6 junior sister from Stoke. That’s where I’d met Nick when he was a registrar. I have had many roles within the service. I did practice development for a short time. I was promoted to senior sister and then in 2000 I set up our critical care outreach team and became the lead for it,” says Becky.

“I was the critical care regional chair for outreach. I contributed to papers written for the Department of Health, especially in relation to service configuration and process. I have been   invited to lecture nationally and internationally on our service design.

“In 2012, due to organisation change, I was moved into the unit manager post at City Hospital. I later became the lead nurse for the service with the additional responsibility of undertaking the role of general manger for critical care.”

Although managing a service like critical care can be physically and emotionally demanding, Becky has enjoyed it so far. ‘I haven’t handed in my notice as yet!’ she laughs. Nick is pleased with the new arrangement and believes that it’s something other areas should consider implementing.

“Certainly some of the skills that I lack, I know that Becky has in abundance, and vice versa. Hopefully it will dovetail really well,” he says. “The feedback from the clinical teams has been overwhelmingly positive, even though we were a little unsure as to how it would be received by the MDT.

“I’m sure that it will work really well and be very successful. It’s a model that will hopefully be adopted in other parts of the organisation. There’s no reason why a clinical service has to be led by a doctor – none whatsoever. It further promotes what we do really well; we work as a multidisciplinary team.”

One of the major benefits is that Becky’s background brings a different perspective to the role. Also, unlike Nick, who sometimes has to work elsewhere, she’s permanently based within critical care, ensuring that colleagues always have access to a clinical lead. Together they hope to keep improving the service in preparation for the Midland Metropolitan Hospital.