Meet the critical care team

Adult Critical Care at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Hi, I’m Cora Presley, head of nursing for adult critical care at Leeds Teaching Hospitals. As head of nursing, I lead an exceptional team to provide care to some of the sickest and most complex patients in the region, although challenging, especially over the past two years of teaching hospitals. Critical care is a place where people who are passionate about meaningful work and value lifelong learning will thrive. I chose to come work at Leeds because of the professional reputation of adult critical care, and since arriving in October of 2020, I can say that I made the right decision. The supportive culture, the friendships I’ve formed, and the amazing work we get to do every day make me excited to come to work. I’m going to hand you over to some of our outstanding team members to hear more about our service, and I hope you consider joining our team for all of the exciting things that we have ahead of us in critical care.

Hello, my name is Mark Richards, and I’m the lead nurse for patient workforce development within adult critical care. My role supports our critical care teams to provide patient care and ensures that adult critical care has a clear recruitment and retention strategy for our nursing workforce. Adult critical care provides care for some of the most critically ill patients in the hospital and cares for approximately five thousand patients a year. Added critical care at least teaching hospitals is split over five specialist units. At Lee’s general infirmary, our units provide specialist intervention as a major trauma centre as a tertiary centre for neurosurgical interventions and for specialist cardiac surgery. On St. James’s site, our units provide specialist intervention as a regional liver transplant centre, a specialist thoracic surgical centre, as well as hosting a mixture of other specialist services within adult critical care. We offer a variety of job roles and career development opportunities, with a key emphasis on investing in our workforce. Some of the team will now speak about the roles they undertake within adult critical care.

Hi, I’m Vicki. I’m an apprentice clinical support worker in critical care. I came into the NHS a little later in life than some, and I chose to do the apprenticeship so that I had the relevant qualifications to help me start my career with the NHS. I chose critical care because two years ago my dad was sick and was looked after by the staff in critical care so well that nothing was too much trouble for them, and I wanted to give to other families the care and compassion I had received as a family member of a patient in critical care. My friend also worked at general intensive care, at least the general infirmary, and told me how good it was to work in the team. As part of my apprenticeship, I have to attend college once a month for the study days, and I am also working towards my level two functional skills in math and English. I get lots of support from my tutors and the team on the unit with the college work that I have so that I pass my course in September.

Hello, my name is Jasmine Sarah Abraham, an international nurse from India. I’m working as a band fire registered nurse in J81 at St. James Hospital. Back sleeping. It has been a year that I have joined this trust, and I’m really enjoying the work I do. Time flies so fast indeed. I can’t believe it has been a year as a registered nurse working in the critical care unit since I have experience back in India of about 2.5 years. That’s the reason I have selected this unit. We have a competency book that needs to be signed off to be fully competent to work in critical care. It is ongoing now. I wholeheartedly thank the NHS and the trust members for recruiting me to this wonderful unit. I look forward to becoming more successful in my profession.

Hi, my name is Emily Gascoigne, and I’m one of the clinical educators on J54 General ICU at St. James’s Critical Care in Leeds. This is a fantastic place to work. There’s so much to learn, and every day is different. We’re a close-knit team who all support each other. Some of our newer initiatives, such as our forum for new staff, show that staff well-being is at the heart of this workplace. I work within the clinical quality team, who are based across the CSU, enabling all the critical care units to work collaboratively, supporting and empowering each other. Our team is dedicated to facilitating and delivering educational programs dictated by training needs analysis, and the Lee’s teaching hospitals trust education and training strategy, which gives staff the tools to deliver excellent patient-centred care for staff needs. Critical care We offer six to eight weeks of supernumerary time for registered nurses depending on your previous experience and two to three weeks for our non-registered colleagues. During this time, you’ll work alongside a named preceptor and other experienced members of the team beyond your supernumerary period. We offer registered nurses five study days to assist you in completing your step one competency in your first year of working here. Step one competency is a national framework for registered nurses in adult critical care. Our education opportunities aren’t limited to registered nurses; however, we also have a series of targeted development programs for all staff groups. On completion of your step one competency, there are opportunities to complete advanced liver neuro-maternal trauma burns or cardiac specialist competencies or study on our critical care course.

Hello, my name is Sophie Beavers, and I am the program leader of the critical care course. The critical care course is a university-accredited program that is run in-house for staff working within critical care in Leeds and across West Yorkshire. The course provides a perfect mix of academic study and practical application in the clinical environment, which has benefits to both your professional development and also the quality of the patient care you can deliver, as well as gaining new knowledge and skills. You will also have the opportunity to network with colleagues working both within LEEDS and from across the West Yorkshire critical care network. Once you’ve gained 12 months of experience and completed the Step 1 competencies, you’ll be in a position to apply for a place. I look forward to receiving an application form from you in the future.

Hello, my name is Ian Smith, and I’m a charge nurse on the surgical and oncology intensive care unit at J21 at St. James University Hospital’s Becc’s Living. My job entails providing nursing care to highly dependent patients and critically unwell patients who have undergone complex surgery or oncology treatment in a 15 embedded open plan unit in addition i also coordinate the unit and provide leadership and expertise as the nurse in charge i like the development opportunities offered to me they offer a truly amazing perceptorship program j81s managers truly support staff to grow develop and succeed every day your knowledge and skills is always used to its greatest potential providing that gold standard of care for two patients at a time are one patient at a time i enjoy the dynamic environment and the complexity of critically unwell service users if you have a strong heart and are wanting to try something new i would strongly recommend working in critical care The skills and knowledge I have gained have been truly wonderful and have surpassed my expectations.

Hello, my name is Alex. I am one of the sisters in intensive care and i also work as one of the patient floor coordinators for critical care in my patient floor rule i help coordinate the flow through the intensive cares i help organize all the admissions discharges transfers and repatriations in and out of the critical care i help ensure that the units are appropriately staffed this means moving staff members to support the other units if one of the other units is short staffed we are one big team and we support each other wherever we can they are a total of five intensive cares in leeds trust i work cross-site i work in both hospitals i work in critical care because i love looking after people who are really sick i love the science and the evidence-based practice that you get to use and the autonomy you have as a registered nurse in the intensive care i previously worked on the wards and i was always so intrigued about what happens to the patients that i transferred to the icu what do they do there how do they keep people alive and what does multi-organ support actually mean i wanted to know what made intensive care intensive care you end up learning so much working in the icu they’re different diseases and conditions all the different machines and therapies that we use to keep people alive it is a great place to work not only for professional development but also personally you learn a lot about yourself and your resilience.

Hello, my name is Rachel Fogo, and I work within the critical care outreach team at Leeds Teaching Hospitals. We provide a 24-7 service, supporting ward staff with the recognition and management of the acutely ill patient. We are a team of experienced Band 6 and 7 nurses who have all previously worked within critical care. Our main role is assessment and early initiation of treatment to stabilise the patient and avoid critical care admission. We work closely with the unit teams, and if it is felt that a patient requires closer monitoring or more specialist medical or nursing care, then we would facilitate a timely and safe transfer into critical care as a team. We also provide a follow-up review to all patients who are discharged from critical care. We hope to ease the transition from critical care to the ward environment. Another big part of our role is education. We share our specialist skills and knowledge by providing a variety of training and education throughout the trust and within the universities. This can be through formal education settings or ad hoc ward-based training around the identification and management of the deteriorating adult. I enjoy working in critical care because it’s a dynamic, challenging environment where no two days are the same. I also really enjoy being part of the patient journey and the support I am able to give to both patients and their families in some of their most difficult times.

Hi, my name is Rick Fortner, and I’m the lead advanced critical care practitioner in LEEDs adult critical care. I lead a team of experienced health care professionals who are highly trained through academic and clinical training to address a current and predicted increase in the shortage of appropriately trained and experienced medical staff who are available to care for our patients. ACPs are registered healthcare professionals who work at a high level based within the medical team but cross boundaries with all members of a multidisciplinary team. I have been an ACP since 2013, and I’m proud to lead a large team of clinicians from a variety of professional backgrounds to deliver high-quality patient-focused care. I was attracted to working in LEEDS as we have all major specialities represented within two very busy hospital sites. This provides a diverse and stimulating environment to work in. The training as an ACCP will be hands-on and fully supervisory for three years, after which an assessment of portfolio and a recommendation ACCP can apply for associate membership of the faculty of intensive care medicine. registered nurses Pharmacists, physiotherapists, and paramedics with a strong background in critical care are all eligible to enter training. Being an ACCP allows senior critical care staff to remain at the bedside whilst advancing their academic, clinical, and professional portfolio whilst providing outstanding critical care.


Hello, my name is Richard Gould, and I’m a consultant in intensive care medicine, and I’m currently one of the lead clinicians for allot critical care at Leeds Teaching Hospital. Critical care is an exciting and dynamic place to work, giving you the opportunities to make a real difference to patients and their loved ones during their most vulnerable times. Leeds is a large tertiary centre, and in intensive care we treat patients following major trauma, cardiac, neuro, or transplant surgery, as well as the full range of medical specialties. One of the things I enjoy most about my department is the genuine sense of teamwork and collaboration. We are a group of staff who each bring unique skills and knowledge to the bedside. All views and opinions are respected, and we work together to do the best for our patients. There is immense satisfaction in being able to provide detailed, individualised care, and working in adult critical care allows us to do this. It is an exciting time to join added critical care in LEEDS. We eagerly await the construction of our brand new intensive care unit at Lee’s general infirmary. This new environment will allow us to continue to provide outstanding critical care, and I very much hope you will want to join the team.

Hello, my name is Ruth Tulock, and I’m the workforce development senior sister for adult critical care responsible for recruitment of our nursing workforce. I feel privileged to be part of such a supportive, hard-working, driven team that provides outstanding patient-centred care. This is an exciting time in adult critical care in LEEDS as we continue to grow and build our teams by utilising innovative workforce models, which also helps us prepare for the expansion of the critical care service through the building the leads way project. If you are interested in joining our teams within adult critical care and leads, please follow the link on NHS Jobs, and we look forward to welcoming you soon.