Wikipedia

Pamela Hibbs

Pamela Hibbs (1935 – 2021) CBE OBE FRCN was a nurse leader and Chief Nursing Officer to the City and Hackney Health Authority, where she did notable work in planning and designing Homerton Hospital, and she was recognised for her achievements in the field of clinical nursing. She significantly improved standards in Hackney Hospital which at one point was seriously failing. A large amount of her work was around the area of pressure sore prevention, she used data to illustrate problems and enable prevention strategies.

Early Life and Career

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Born in 1935 and brought up in Kent, Wiltshire and Hampshire, Pamela Hibbs was the oldest of three children. Her mother had been a nurse and her father had a worked in Fleet Street. She had a wartime childhood spent with aunts in Wiltshire. The family then relocated to Southampton. A local teacher introduced her to the history of St Bartholomew's Hospital, where she decided to take her nurse training.[1] Hibbs began training as a cadet nurse at Southampton Eye Hospital and then took her general nurse training at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, qualifying as a registered nurse with gold medal and first class honours for her year.[2][3] Early in her post-qualification career she gained various clinical experience. This included work in the intensive care wards at St Mary’s Hospital. Hibbs also took a year’s course at Battersea College of Technology and qualified as a health visitor and worked in rural Berkshire. She returned to St Bartholomew’s Hospital to be a ward sister and nursing officer, while also working as a night superintendent at St Leonard’s Hospital.[1]

Further Career

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In 1976, Hibbs was seconded to Hackney Hospital to help improve a failing institution.[4][3] She was appointed Divisonal Nursing Officer Hackney Hospital responsible for acute, obstetric, mental illness, mental handicap and geriatric services, and remained at Hackney Hospital for eight years.[1] Hibbs began by initiating improvements to the environment and particularly the needs of elderly patients. She made improvements including appointment of a Social Secretary devoted to the Care of the Elderly. This was achieved with a grant from The Mercer's Company, a livery company with links to St Bartholomew's Hospital.[5] She addressed the high rate of pressure sores in the hospital which reduced from 25% to 2% by the time she retired in 1997.[4]

Whist working at Hackney Hospital she took an Open University course and in 1978 was awarded a degree of bachelor of the arts.[1]

Hibbs was appointed Chief Nursing Officer to the City and Hackney Health Authority in 1985, responsible for the quality assurance programme throughout the district. She was involved with Hackney Hospital until its closure, and instrumental in planning and designing the new Homerton Hospital which superseded Hackney Hospital.[1][6]

In 1993, Hibbs was appointed Chief Nurse and Director of Quality Assurance at St Bartholomew's Hospital and the Royal London Hospital.[7] She oversaw developmental programmes and practice development programmes. These were in particular areas of for care of the elderly, pain management and for the prevention of pressure sores.[1]

Contributions to the Quality of Clinical Care

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In 1982, Hibbs argued with Mid Surrey District Health Authority Chairman that Budgets for the Elderly are unfairly calculated in comparison with budgets for acute wards.[8]

In 1986, she was appointed to a working group to review and develop performance indicators. This was prompted by fear that that standards of care were being overlooked by health service managers as they were less easy to quantify than patient throughput and cost efficiency. Hibbs draws a distinction between efficient and good care.[9]

Hibbs was recognised particularly for her work on pressure sores.[10] In 1987, she sat on a King's Fund Workshop to define prevalence and monitor costs of pressures sores. She presented a paper to the Kings Fund workshop relating to costs of pressure sores.[11] She also published a book on managing patients at risk of developing pressure sores.[12][13] Her work in achieving significant pressure ulcer reduction in City and Hackney Health Authority was acknowledged by peers in the same year.[14] She continued research on Pressure Ulcer Prevention, publishing a paper in 1988[15] and joining a multi-disciplinary team to investigate the problem of high incidence of pressures sores in elderly patients admitted with fractured neck or femur in 1990.[16] Systematic data collection on pressure sores was described as a prevention strategy and the work of the King's Fund Nursing Development Programme was acknowledged by the group.[17]

In 1987, Hibbs investigated reports of differing nutritional standards in two wards caring for the elderly.[18]

Retirement

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In 1997, Hibbs retired from her role as Chief Nurse and Director of Quality Assurance at the Royal Hospitals Trust, London. While in retirement Hibbs was active in Camden Health Watch[19] and in the League of St Bartholomew's Nurses. In 2010 she was one of the judges of the Architects for Health Awards. She was Chair of St Joseph's Hospice and Chair of the Charity Council and Care which provides information and advice for the elderly.[20] Hibbs was also involved in prison inspections participating as Specialist Inspector Nursing in 2000 during an unannounced follow up inspection of HM Prison Buckley Hall.[21] She was a Trustee of the Voluntary Board of Governors St Bartholomew's Hospital.[22]

Honours and Awards

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  • Order of the British Empire in the New Year's Honours 1986.[23]
  • Fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing in 1990.[24][25]
  • Commander of the British Empire in 1996.[26]
  • Honorary Doctor of Science Degree awarded by City University 1996.[7]

Death

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In January 2021 Pamela Hibbs died of Covid-19 while in University College London Hospital.[27]

Commemoration

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On 6th May 2021, a tree was planted in the park in Camden in honour of Hibbs and other Camden residents who had died of Covid-19.[28][29]

On 19th June 2021 The Times published a tribute describing Hibb's life and clinical achievements.[4]

On 22nd March 2022 the inaugural 'Pam Hibbs Lecture' was held by the Barts League of Nurses on the subject of pressure ulcer prevention during the pandemic. It featured talks from Ruth May and Jacqui Fletcher.[6][30]

The book The Two Koreas and their Global Engagements by Andrew Jackson was dedicated to the memory of Hibbs.[31]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Hibbs; Pamela (1935-2021); nurse leader". Royal College of Nursing Archives. Retrieved 2024-07-04.
  2. ^ UK & Ireland Nursing Registers 1898 - 1968
  3. ^ a b Knapp, Alison (May 2021). "Pamela Hibbs CBE OBE FRCN DSc (Hon) 1935 - 2021" (PDF). Barts Guild News. pp. 15–16. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  4. ^ a b c "Committed Chief Nurse who turned around Hackney Hospital". The Times London. 19 June 2021. pp. 81 Accessed 7 June 2024.
  5. ^ "Chief nurse to launch annual Pam Hibbs lecture". Barts Health NHS Trust. 4 February 2022. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
  6. ^ a b "Pam Hibbs Inaugural Lecture 22 March 2022. : Barts League of Nurses". 2022-03-24. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  7. ^ a b "Hibbs; Pamela; Miss; Nurse; DS/UK/1747". Barts Health NHS Trust. 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  8. ^ "Nursing Budget for Elderly unrealistic". Nursing Times Vol 78 Issue 24 Page 994. 16 June 1982. Retrieved 2024-06-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ "Quality Ignored as a Measurement Tool". The Nursing Times. 82. 10 December 1986 – via Historic Nursing Journals.
  10. ^ Bader, Dan L.; Bouten, Carlijn V. C.; Colin, Denis; Oomens, Cees W. J. (2005-12-14). Pressure Ulcer Research: Current and Future Perspectives. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-3-540-28804-6.
  11. ^ 'Pressures sores' Is anyone doing anything to define the prevalence or monitor the cost to the patient and the NHS? https://archive.kingsfund.org.uk/downloads/9c67wp165?locale=es Kings Fund 1987 accessed 7 June 2024
  12. ^ Hibbs, P (1988). Pressure area care for the City & Hackney Health Authority : prevention plan for patients at risk from developing pressure sores ; policy for the management of pressure sores. London: City and Hackney Health Authority.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  13. ^ "NEWS". Journal of Advanced Nursing. 14 (5): 351–355. May 1989. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.1989.tb01540.x. ISSN 0309-2402.
  14. ^ Rogers, R (5 December 1987). "Preventing an "unnecessary evil"". The Nursing Standard. doi:10.7748/ns.2.10.22.s58 – via RCNi.
  15. ^ Hibbs, Pam (1988). "The Economics of Pressure Ulcer Prevention". Decubitus Chicago 111. 1 (3): 32–38. eISSN 0898-1655 – via MEDLINE.
  16. ^ Laurent, Claire (2019-10-30). Rituals & Myths in Nursing: A Social History. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-4738-9663-5.
  17. ^ Hibbs, Pam (1990-10-10). "Putting audit into practice: Nurses in City and Hackney Health Authority have joined forces with other disciplines to solve a serious patient care problem, as Pam Hibbs describes". Nursing Standard. 5 (3): 55–56. doi:10.7748/ns.5.3.55.s62. ISSN 0029-6570.
  18. ^ "A saucy tale". The Nursing Standard. 31 October 1987 – via Pubmed.
  19. ^ Healthwatch Camden E-News Digest 8 May 2015 accessed 8 June 2024
  20. ^ "2010 Judges – Architects for Health". Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  21. ^ Report on An Unannounced Follow-up Inspection of HM Prison Buckley Hall, 5-7 January 2000 (PDF) (Report). HM Inspectorate of Prisons. February 2000.
  22. ^ Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 December 2018 for the Voluntary Hospital of St Bartholomew (Report). 3 October 2019.
  23. ^ "Page 1 | Supplement 50361, 30 December 1985 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  24. ^ "RCN Fellowship and Honorary Fellowship Roll of Honour" (PDF). Royal College of Nursing. 2024.
  25. ^ "NEWS". Journal of Advanced Nursing. 15 (8): 867–868. August 1990. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.1990.tb01940.x. ISSN 0309-2402.
  26. ^ "Supplement to the London Gazette of Monday, 30th December 1996". The Gazette. 30 December 1996. p. 1.
  27. ^ "Pam Hibbs CBE 1935-2021 – Wounds UK". Retrieved 2024-07-31.
  28. ^ "In Memoriam: Pam Hibbs (1936-2021) : Barts League of Nurses". 2021-07-15. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  29. ^ Weatherby, Bronwen (6 May 2021). "Tree to honour 'warm-hearted' ex-nurse Pam Hibbs". Camden New Journal.
  30. ^ "Chief nurse to launch annual Pam Hibbs lecture". Barts Health NHS Trust. Retrieved 2024-07-31.
  31. ^ Jackson, Andrew David (2022-02-22). The Two Koreas and their Global Engagements. Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3-030-90761-7.
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