Nurse Practitioner Joins Shorecare Team

Shorecare has recently employed a new nurse practitioner, with special interests in wound care and the elderly. Shorecare, who have been providing Urgent Care services to the North Shore for over 45 years, have a large team across two locations, Smales Farm and Northcross. They believe this new role is already helping to deliver more patient-centred care and reduce wait times.

Dr Robyn Theakston, Clinical Governor of Shorecare, says that nurse practitioners can provide “a somewhat less medicalised approach. We see our nurse practitioners providing full care after triage, including plasters, splints, and dressings”. Additionally, nurse practitioners can request tests, X-rays and make referrals to secondary services resulting in more holistic and timely care. Theakston states that she believes they make “great patient advocates” and that through a combination of their “advanced nursing knowledge and skills along with diagnostic reasoning and therapeutic knowledge” provide truly patient-centred care.

So far, this new role has been well received by both patients and the wider Shorecare team. Theakston did say that “some patients are a little confused and question the role, but most have been very complimentary and feel very well cared for”. Shorecare hopes to employ more nurse practitioners in the near future and see this as an exciting new career path for existing Shorecare nurses.

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