A healthy option

Our feature this month about working in the health service reflects the growing demand there for people with the kind of skills nannies can offer. Last month Nursery World carried an advertisement for a similar sort of position to Dupe's and Maureen's, seeking nursery nurses to support health visitors in a Sure Start programme run with Community Health South London NHS Trust. In September the King George Hospital in east London advertised for an NNEB or equivalent to work in the children's accident and emergency department - 'no previous experience necessary'. This assistant is now being trained in such basic medical skills as taking blood samples, applying plaster of paris casts, recording heart tracings (ECGs) and helping in minor operations like stitching. Sally Miller, A&E manager at the hospital, explained that most of the A&E technicians were only trained to work on adults, and she wanted people who had specialised with children. 'The people who applied were wide and varied,' she said - they included nannies, as well as those who had worked in nurseries, in schools and in child protection. She thinks such a job option is set to become more popular. Interested childcarers should first approach the A&E manager at their local hospital; each NHS Trust will advertise and fill its vacancies separately.