Joanna Whittaker has been a qualified RGN for 23 years and has worked at University of North Staffs for her full nursing career. She had a period away from the NHS establishing a Children's Day Nursery in Cheshire from 1994 to 2004, going from one child on the first day to sixty places and a twelve-month waiting list, ten years later.
She returned to practice in 2006 and applied for a short three-month secondment for a new service called ‘OPAT’ and has been in post since then.
Joanna for the past five years has been the Lead Clinical Nurse Specialist of a small but dedicated team of nursing colleagues and is active in liaising with additional team members including Infectious Diseases Consultants, Microbiology consultants, antimicrobial pharmacists & technicians etc, chairing the weekly MDT’s and planning reviews/appointments for patients receiving their on-going care at home.
Joanna will today present ‘The Trials & Tribulations of an Expanding OPAT Service’ for which there have been many over the past eighteen years.