Two Urology Nurse Practitioners at the Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospitals NHS Trust have become the second nurses in the country to successfully achieve a qualification designed for doctors.

Jenny Hooker and Alison Roodhouse have each achieved a double success: gaining a Post-Graduate Diploma in Urology and passing exams that permits them to be “NursePrescribers”.

Consultant Urological Surgeon Prof. Brian Ellis, commenting on their success said: “As their clinical mentor I am immensely proud of their achievements.  Over the last nine months they have both studied for these two courses in addition to doing their day jobs, and running their homes. Their motivation to provide the highest standard of service for their patients is first rate, and their commitment should be respected.”

The University of Middlesex Postgraduate Diploma in Urology which Jenny and Alison have gained is designed for GPs who have a special interest in urology.  Only one other nurse before them has ever successfully completed the course and gained the diploma.

Said Alison: “There is no nursing course for a specialist urology nurse covering the wide field of our whole job.  The diploma course provides a way of getting professional recognition for our skills and abilities. There was one GP on our course,  whichinvolved distance learning and practical work within the Trust.  Prof Ellis was our medical supervisor, and very supportive, and we could not have studied for the diploma without his support.”

They were also studying to achieve the Nursing and Midwifery Council “Registration” as Nurse Prescribers.  They were the only two urology nurses on the course.  This qualification allows them, as nurses, to prescribe medication that would normally only be prescribed by a doctor.  This gives the patient the advantage of getting their medicine sooner and frees-up doctor time.              

Their success now brings the number of Nurse Prescribers in the Trust to nine, which includes orthopaedic trauma specialist nurse Hazel Watters who was on the same course as Jenny and Alison and passed her exams as a Nurse Prescriber at the same time as them.

The Trust’s first three Nurse Prescribers can be found in acute pain, chronic pain, and the emergency department. Other Nurse Prescribers include a diabetes specialist nurse, paediatric A&E sister, and a Macmillan nurse.

Anyone considering a career in nursing but feels they have left it too late may be interested to know that Jenny Hooker began her training 14 years ago at the age of 43. She studied at Luton University and worked in hospitals in High Wycombe andHillingdon before joining Ashford Hospital in June 2003.

Said Jenny: “It has been hard – I hadn’t studied since I did my GCSEs in 1966. My family has been very encouraging and my husband, Duncan, has been a great support.” 

Alison plans to take up her studies again in September when she hopes to complete a Masters Degree course at theUniversity of Middlesex.