Our Impact News Jo Petheram: Lead Nurse for Children’s Care Jo Petheram, Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance’s Lead Nurse for Children’s Care, is utilising her unique role within our Patient and Family Liaison Team to improve services for children, both within our charity and beyond. Paediatric care at DSAA Children make up 12% of our patients, and DSAA is committed to enhancing the scope and quality of their care. DSAA continues to strengthen its focus on advocating for the needs of children through this dedicated role within our Patient and Family Liaison team. What makes Jo’s role as Lead Nurse for Children’s Care special, is the fact that it combines the regional reach of the DSAA critical care service with Jo’s highly specialist experience, knowledge, skills and professional relationships. Dr Phil Hyde, Medical Director at Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance: “This is a great opportunity to support children and families, strengthen ambulance service collaboration across our regional healthcare networks and fundamentally improve pathways of care for children”. Focusing on improving care for children who receive pre-hospital critical care is expected to have significant positive effects on broader children’s care. About Jo Jo is a mother, a children’s nurse and a formal advocate for children. She began working in Southampton Hospital’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in 2010, caring for critically ill children and their families. While Jo continues to work at Southampton Hospital, she now primarily serves as Lead Nurse for Children’s Care within our Patient and Family Liaison Team (PFL). The PFL team bridges the gap between the care delivered by our critical care team and the patient’s ongoing recovery process. While the most immediately critical moments in the patient’s journey have passed, the PFL team continues to provide care by answering the many questions a patient may have, connecting them to support services and condition-specific charities, and offering peer support opportunities by linking patients with others who have had similar experiences. Lead Nurse for Children’s Care As Lead Nurse for Children's Care, Jo focuses specifically on supporting the children cared for by our critical care team, as well as their families and siblings. Her goal is to transform the look and feel of this service by individualising each child’s experience. Through her tailored approach, Jo aims to soften a journey that is often marked by sharp edges and complexity; a complexity that requires specialist attention when addressed within the context of young patients. “I've got a real passion and knowledge base about critically ill and injured children and how they are looked after. This role allows me to purely support the children and their families that are looked after by our service and fill in any gaps about their care.” - Jo Petheram How will she do this? By reimagining the approach to post-critical care support with children in mind, Jo’s role will bring comfort and positivity during a challenging time. Her method includes: Visits to our airbase Specialist certificates Information packs and art Emotional support signposting A specially designed cuddly toy aimed at creating a physical connection to the care provided by our team Jo also supports children and their families on their journey to recovery by signposting them to appropriate charities and organisations, such as bereavement support services and talking therapy, ensuring they have access to the emotional resources they need. Beyond the direct care she provides, Jo plays a vital role in shaping the wider system of support for children on their journey from pre-hospital care, hospital treatment, and onwards into the community. By liaising with the children’s hospitals, the children’s transport services, children’s specialist care networks and community services she can ensure the best possible pathways for care. This involves active collaboration with system learning and support of any required evolution. Jo is working with our DSAA pre-hospital critical care clinicians to continue development of paediatric specific training embedded through the DSAA training programme and maturation of DSAA equipment for caring for critically ill and injured children. Ultimately, Jo’s role as Lead Nurse for Children’s Care within the Patient and Family Liaison team marks an innovative step forward in advocacy for children. Meet DSAA's Patient and Family Liaison Nurses Manage Cookie Preferences