Hospital launches gastrointestinal academy for nurses

A new gastrointestinal (GI) academy has been launched at London's St Thomas’ Hospital to help hundreds of nurses expand their knowledge of digestive health and treatment.

The GI Academy has been set up to support the 230 nurses working in digestive health across Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.

They will gain and develop skills in all aspects of gastroenterology, with a particular focus on performing endoscopies.

Degrees

The experience will also count towards achieving undergraduate or postgraduate degrees in clinical nursing practice or advanced clinical nursing practice at King’s College London.

Consultant nurse and lead for the GI Academy Fiona Hibberts said: ‘The NHS needs more GI nurses as patient demand increases and we currently see approximately 33,000 patient episodes per year.

‘As a result surgery, and the needs of patients becomes increasingly complex.

‘Through the GI Academy, we want to develop nurses at all stages of their career, pursue excellence in caring for our patients and support our team.

‘This will not only help us "reach and keep staff" but will mean that our patients benefit from better and more informed care.’

Encouragement

Chief nurse at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Dame Eileen Sills added: ‘By developing our staff in this way we can encourage lifelong learning, develop specialist nursing care for patients and support professional development for nurses at all levels.’

Staff of all levels – from healthcare assistants to heads of nursing – can join the academy.

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