Laura Churm appointed Director of Nursing for Paediatrics

After a rigorous and extensive recruitment process, Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH) has appointed Laura Churm as its new Director of Nursing for Paediatrics.

With over 20 years of experience, Laura began her NHS journey in 1999, following qualification as a Registered Nurse, working at Barnsley Hospital before moving on to Derbyshire Children’s Hospital where she stayed for the following two decades.

The Chesterfield resident worked as a Paediatric Nurse on the acute wards and in the Children’s Emergency Department initially within the Derbyshire provider, and in 2004 commenced upon a two year Master degree to become an Advanced Children’s Emergency Nurse Practitioner. As a specialist post, this requires additional training enabling an individual to assess, diagnose and prescribe treatment for patients with certain illnesses and injuries without having to refer to a doctor.

During her six years in this role, Laura supported a major service redesign of the Children’s Emergency Service at Derbyshire Children’s Hospital, before accepting promotion as Service and Nursing Manager for Children’s Community and Specialist Nurse Teams in 2010, a post she held for almost 10 years.

Laura joins DBTH from University Hospital of Derby and Burton, where she has been Lead Nurse for Paediatrics since 2019, providing leadership to the team throughout much of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking about her appointment, Laura said: “It is a huge privilege to be appointed as the Divisional Director of Nursing of Paediatrics at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals. I look forward to working with children, young people, their families and colleagues as we continually strive to improve paediatric services, particularly as we look at how urgent and emergency care services are delivered at Bassetlaw Hospital, developing this facility to meet the needs of the local community. I can’t wait to get started.”

Each year the Trust cares for thousands of children across its main sites in Doncaster Royal Infirmary and Bassetlaw Hospital. As part of this leadership role, Laura will be heavily involved in developing plans at the latter site as the Trust seeks to reconfigure urgent and emergency services in Worksop with a view to extend paediatric access.

Abigail Trainer, Acting Chief Nurse at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals said: “I am delighted to welcome Laura to the Trust and look forward to working with her. While we have some challenging times ahead as we seek to recover from the pandemic, there is also huge opportunity to develop, enhance and improve our services, and I am confident that in Laura we have a strong leader with a proven track-record who will help us take forward paediatric care in Doncaster and Bassetlaw.”

Laura will joined the Trust in mid-May 2022, replacing outgoing Divisional Director of Nursing for Paediatric and Neonates, Andrea Bliss.

Abigail continues: “Finally, on behalf of all at the Trust I want to wish a fond farewell and express my deep thanks to Andrea. Joining our team in 1987, Andrea has been a magnificent servant of Team DBTH, caring for countless patients and supporting innumerable families during her four decades at the Trust. I wish her the very best of happiness and health in her retirement.”