Aroundtown Magazine Winter 2022 edition

Aroundtown MEETS
“
One of her most influential
endeavours was that she co-developed
the Safer Nursing Care Tool, a project
which began 22 years ago that
Hilary is still involved in today
”
Unveiling the Covid memorial in Barnsley alongside
former Archbishop of York, Lord Bishop John Sentamu
up the post on 5th November on
Andrew’s retirement. Now 58, the
upper age limit means Dame Hilary
may well be in the role for 17 years.
The role of a Lord-Lieutenant
is voluntary but demanding and
has often been given to someone
retired. While Dame Hilary is retired
from full-time work, she is still an
independent consultant and will
juggle these commitments with
her lieutenancy – something she
says nearly made her turn down
the opportunity.
“Andrew was fantastically
involved and he often worked
40-hour weeks. When he was
ready for retiring, the Privy Council
invited a number of the deputies
into a very relaxed meeting to
discuss what qualities we thought
a Lord-Lieutenant should have and
how the role could further benefit
the region. At the end, they asked
me if I would consider the role as
my name had been mentioned
quite often.
“I said I was far too busy and
couldn’t possibly do it justice. But it
was my husband Neil, and Andrew,
who both stopped me in my tracks
and made me reassess. They said
to me, ‘Yes, it’s a big commitment
and you might be busy, but this is
a real privilege and a once-in-alifetime
opportunity.’”
And one thing’s for certain – she
will take great care in ensuring she
leads by example.
Born and raised in Deepcar,
Dame Hilary says she and her older
sister had a blissful childhood.
Their father was a senior engineer
at Fox’s steelworks in Stocksbridge
and their mother taught French at
the high school.
“We didn’t live on a working
farm but our house had lots of land
and various animals and all the
children from the community would
regularly come over. Because Mum
was a teacher she adored children
and Dad would make stilts, create
a putting green, or get the kids
involved in hay making.
“Although he had a highranking
job at Fox’s, Dad was
very grounded and I think I get my
values from him.”
After leaving school, the plan
was for Hilary to go to university to
study business and French. Her
mother had been to university in the
1950s which was a rarity among
her peers and she longed for her
own two girls to follow suit.
However, after speaking to a
girl in the upper sixth who was
going to London to train as a
nurse, and reading a copy of the
Nursing Times, Hilary had a change
of heart.
“When I told them about me
doing nursing instead, they
said, ‘Whatever you want to
do we will support you.’ If they
were disappointed, they never
showed it.”
This February marks forty years
since she began her nursing
training, having moved to Sheffield
to take up a trainee position at the
Northern General Hospital in 1982.
And her parents needn’t have
been disheartened with their
daughter’s decision.
Throughout her nursing career,
Dame Hilary worked across many
areas of medicine including
cardiothoracic for patients
undergoing open-heart surgery,
and intensive care where she first
became a Sister.
After leaving Sheffield in
1992, she went on to work in
Leicester, Nottingham, Kettering
and Coventry, before moving back
to Sheffield in 2006 to take up
the role of chief nurse. Here, she
was responsible for maintaining
clinical and patient care standards,
developing new strategies,
and ensuring the hospitals ran
to schedule.
“Nursing is the best career ever
and I try and persuade people to
seriously consider it. I often hear
‘oh, I don’t like blood’ or ‘I couldn’t
do that’ but it is so varied with so
many opportunities.”
One of her most influential
endeavours was that she codeveloped
the Safer Nursing Care
Tool, a project which began 22
years ago that Hilary is still involved
in today. The idea was to overhaul
the traditional methods of staffing
wards, whereby the previous
year’s rota would be consulted and
implemented the same. But Hilary
says that wasn’t working; patients
were getting sicker and spending
longer on the wards.
“The Safer Nursing Care Tool
is based on something similar to
time and motion. If you’re looking
at how many nurses are needed
for a ward or department, you look
at the needs of the patients and
what level of care they need. For
example, do they need help with
feeding or walking. We want to
know how many hours of nursing
are needed on that one ward at that
one time. Then it uses an algorithm
to calculate.”
The tool was developed by
Dame Hilary and her co-lead,
Professor Katherine Fenton, during
days off, evenings and weekends
before it was rubber stamped
by the chief nursing officer for
England in 2006. There is also now
a fellowship programme to show
younger and newly qualified nurses
how to use and manage it correctly.
“
This February
marks forty years
since she began
her nursing
training, having
moved to Sheffield
to take up a
trainee position
at the Northern
General Hospital
in 1982.
”
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