Meet our MWL People
Each week we will be showcasing more of our amazing MWL People, working in a wide range of areas across the Trust, so please stay tuned.
- John Heaton, click to read more
John is our Trust’s Senior Medical Photographer, and manages the Medical Photography Department. He’s a well-known and popular face around the Trust!
John said: “Our team takes medical photos in departments such as burns and plastics, dermatology, urology, and ophthalmology. These images can support diagnosis and are used to provide a visual record of patients’ conditions.
“I’ve worked across the St Helens and Whiston sites for over 35 years. Photography has changed a lot over this time – now of course we use digital systems, but back when I started we used film. Not having to wait for photos to develop like in the old days means that they can be used to support patient care immediately and are easily accessible to clinicians when they’re needed.
“I love my job and working for this Trust. My motto is treating everyone I meet the same as I would like myself to be treated. Being positive and friendly puts patients at ease, and makes for the best working environment”.
- Barbara Roberts, click to read more
Barbara has been a volunteer with us for over 20 years, starting back in the old Whiston Hospital in the WRVS café.
She particularly enjoys helping out on the children’s ward, greeting families, making drinks for our visitors, and playing with our young patients to provide them with a distraction from being in hospital. Barbara has really kindly continued her volunteering over the Christmas period, doing her bit to support our patients during the festive season!
She’s passionate about her role here saying: “The hospital has been a big part of mine and my family’s lives. I had my children here so I love being able to feel like I’m giving something back. I’m playing a part in my local hospital that looks after our local community”.
Barbara really encourages other people to consider volunteering at the hospital too.
She said: “Definitely consider being a volunteer. If you’re young, it’s a great way of getting experience and gives you an idea of what you might want to do as a career in the future”.
- Lisa Chapple, click to read more
Lisa is Clinical Lead Occupational Therapist (OT) for Burns and Plastics. Her role is pivotal in the successful rehabilitation of patients who have suffered a serious burn.
Lisa said: ‘Establishing early movement and daily routines following a burn injury is essential to promote healing, reduce stiffness and swelling, and optimise recovery.
‘I love how my role means that I interact with patients from the start of their time on the ward with us right through to their outpatient appointments when they’re living back at home. OTs focus on the whole person, encompassing the physical, emotional, and social aspects of their injuries. We can build a close connection and understanding, which complements the individualised care we provide.
‘I’m so grateful to the Trust for helping to support my OT training over 20 years ago – I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else. Our service has a huge catchment area, including North Wales and the Isle of Man, and we’re really busy, but I am so proud of the work the entire multidisciplinary team does to help patients regain a sense of purpose, improve their quality of life, and return to independent living’.
- Caroline Birtwell, click to read more
Caroline is a Health Play Specialist at Ormskirk Hospital. It’s a really special role, utilising play to support the children and young people accessing our services.
Caroline says “I’ve worked in the Paediatric Department at Ormskirk Hospital for 22 years now. I started my career here as a Healthcare Assistant, and in 2005 qualified as a Health Play Specialist.
“Health Play Specialists are an integral part of the multidisciplinary team. We collaborate with nursing and medical staff to provide holistic care for our young patients – our role is to use therapeutic play to help children understand their illness and support them throughout their treatment.
“I have the privilege of leading our play specialists team. I find my job very rewarding – making a real difference in the experience children and their families have in hospital means so much to me. And working with such amazing people makes coming to work a pleasure.”
- Matthew Taylor, click to read more
Matt is a Specialist Information Analyst in our Service Improvement Team and has worked at our Trust for four years. Matt’s role is to analyse and interpret the data our hospital staff use for making improvements to our services for the benefit of patient care.
Matt said: “I’ve been interested in the value of good data analysis since I read The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy when I was younger! Hospitals are huge and complicated organisations, and data modelling enables us to predict the impact of important operational decisions.
“MWL has a great culture and staff are really open to improvement work and finding ways to make our services run better or more efficiently. Our job in Service Improvement isn’t to come in and tell other teams how to do their jobs, it’s to help facilitate and support them to find their own solutions. The data modelling I do can help test what the potential impact of a change could be.
“It’s really important to remember that behind every number in our data is a patient – my role is to support the great care delivered by my colleagues in the clinical teams. It means a lot to me to be playing my part in the delivery of the best possible care for those in my local community”.
Each week we will be showcasing more of our amazing #MWLPeople working in a wide range of areas across the Trust so stay tuned.
- Erica Isherwood, click to read more
Erica is a well-known face around our hospitals, having worked in our Trust for ten years! Erica’s had a wide variety of different roles, including in paediatrics, research, education, and digital. She’s about to start a new role as Clinical Procurement Matron.
Erica said: “I’ve always wanted to be a nurse - I love interacting with our patients and staff. My career in nursing has been so varied, making it really professionally fulfilling.
“I am very lucky to work with some amazing staff who are my role models, and despite the challenges we face in the NHS they always embody our Trust’s values of being kind, open, and inclusive. I’m passionate about empowering people, whether that is with education or digital technology, and believe with the right tools behind us it can make a big impact on the healthcare we deliver.
“I’m so excited to begin my new role as Clinical Procurement Matron. Our hospitals have to buy in thousands of medical items everyday for patient care, and it's so important that they are safe and effective. My role will be to oversee the procurement process from a clinical perspective, utilising my years of experience as a nurse”.
- Tom Woods, click to read more
Tom is a Physiotherapist at Whiston Hospital. He had an unusual route into healthcare – he originally trained as a dancer, and still performs as part of a touring Jersey Boys tribute act!
Taking up the story he said: ‘While working as a performer I became really interested in Dance for Parkinson’s – a specialised programme for people with Parkinson’s that promotes physical and mental wellbeing. It was from there that I decided to complete my Physiotherapy training.
“I feel that my dance background really complements my role at the hospital. My dance training gave me an initial understanding of how the body moves and how to analyse these movements, and that in turn helps me now when assessing patients.
“I love the variety of my role and knowing I’m making a positive impact in people’s lives. Physiotherapists help guide patients to the correct exercises, but of course the hard work is down to the individual themselves. I’m always so proud of what our patients achieve with our support”.
- Lesley Enwright, click to read more
Lesley is Operational Services Manager for Anaesthetics, Critical Care and Pain Management at Ormskirk and Southport hospitals. Lesley has been working at our Trust for 21 years, and her history with us goes back even further because she was born at Ormskirk Hospital!
Lesley says “My role primarily involves the co-ordination of our anaesthetists across the theatres at both sites. As you’d expect, it’s always a bit challenging being within an emergency and critical care environment. There are a lot of complexities making sure seriously ill patients receive the care they need in the right place at the right time, and so many important details to get right, but the team is wonderful – supportive and dedicated. Everyone plays an essential part, whether you’re a cleaner, a nurse, a consultant, or a manager.
“I genuinely wish I’d known a career like this was out there when I was a little younger! I knew about the anaesthetists in hospital theatres, but I had no idea what a fascinating fulfilling world this was to work in. If I could go back in time, I would start my journey in this department as soon as I could”.
- Professor Greg Irving, click to read more
Greg is a GP based at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre who has a huge interest in promoting clinical research to benefit patients and the NHS and was the driving force behind the development of a brand new research hub at the Trust.
Greg says: “I have worked for the Trust as a GP for about five years and am involved in the day-to-day running of providing medical care in Marshalls Cross Medical Centre which is at St Helens Hospital.
“I am also a Professor of Primary Care and with that hat on do a lot of primary care-based research in the Trust and work in the newly opened research hub which is a massive boost for our patients and the Trust.
“Primary care research has gone from strength to strength in recent years and is really important in terms of improving the quality of care that is delivered and in shaping the future of how care is delivered in the NHS in general.
“I am particularly passionate about taking action on health inequalities and a lot of the research we have done here is focused on that very issue with studies on long term conditions and how they can be best addressed.’’
- Peter Henderson, click to read more
Peter has been a Porter Postman at Whiston Hospital for 20 years. He picks up mail from the local post sorting office and delivers it across all different areas and departments of the hospital. He also sorts through and processes any mail that needs to go out to other areas of the Trust and to the community.
You may have seen him on his travels, as on a typical day he can do around 20,000 steps!
Peter says he works with a great team. He said: “I enjoy my job because everyone works together like clockwork to make the service run smoothly and efficiently. I love all the different types of people I get to meet every day doing my job. I can’t imagine doing anything else”.
- Christine Griffith-Evans, click to read more
Christine has been a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian at our Trust for 18 months. Her role is focused on providing staff with a route to raise concerns.
Christine said: “I’ve worked in the NHS for 40 years, firstly as a nurse and then later within patient safety roles. I’m passionate about our health service and ensuring patients receive the best possible care – for me, listening to staff is the way to do this.
“My role embraces the Trust values of being Kind, Open, and Inclusive. I think it’s a privilege to be able to listen to and support staff members, and I am always amazed and humbled by their dedication and motivation to bring about positive change. It is also great to see how managers and leaders respond to concerns, listening and acting, making sure we’re always focused on improving”.
October is Freedom to Speak Up Month. Christine said: “we have a programme of events planned to raise awareness of the role of FTSU Guardians, and to encourage staff to get in touch when they have any concerns”.
- Pam Gore, click to read more
Pam is a Pressure Garment Technician who works within the Burns and Plastics Therapy Team at Whiston Hospital.
Pam's worked in this role for 24 years, making bespoke pressure garments for some of our patients who have had burns injuries, reconstructive surgery and complex hand injuries. Pressure garments help to reduce swelling, flatten scarring, and aid movement and are all individually made on site for each patient.
Pam says she loves working with our patients. She said "No two days are the same. Each pressure garment is unique to each patient and customised to their individual needs. I love the feeling that I'm really making a difference, doing my part in supporting their recovery”.
Each week we will be showcasing more of our amazing #MWLPeople working in a wide range of areas across the Trust so stay tuned.
- Nisin Thonikkara, click to read more
Nisin is a Radiographer at both Whiston and St Helens Hospitals. His day-to-day role involves carrying out diagnostic imaging supporting quality care for our patients.
Nisin really loves what he does. He says: “The part of my job I enjoy the most is ‘making the unseen seen’, and I find the skilled and helpful team I have around me makes my job even better.
“This is my first job in the NHS. I think I have settled in well, and it’s all thanks to my colleagues who have been really supportive. Moving halfway across the world from India was really challenging, and everyone in the Trust who I’ve met has helped me feel really welcome”.
- Carole Nixon, click to read more
Carole is a Healthcare Assistant at Newton Community Hospital, Carole has been a member of the team for two years after making a promise to her late father as she cared for him in his later years with her mum and daughter.
Carole said: “Shortly before my dad passed away, he said ‘you’d be really good at this, promise me you’ll get a job in the hospital’ – and I did! Now I’m so happy that I made that decision.’’
Now Carole says she would encourage anyone considering a job in the NHS to do it: “Go for it,’’ she said.
“I spend my whole day working directly with patients who all have a lot of different needs. It’s really interesting work. I feel a part of the team at Newton, I feel at home.’’