Audrey Pringle is the Team Lead for Quality Improvement and Standards for Care Homes and Primary Care. She also has a visual impairment.
However, this disability has not been a barrier in her nursing career.
“I started in nursing in 1988 and came to NHS Lothian in 1991. My eyesight started deteriorating in ’94, but it hasn’t affected my career at all – I have moved away from clinical roles naturally as my career developed, not because of my disability,” she says.
In 1995, Audrey became a charge nurse and worked with older adults until she was seconded into Infection Prevention and Control in 2005. From there, she became part of a pilot programme for a Care Home Liaison Team in 2014. When that project ended, she moved into the Health Protection Team, before finally taking on her current role in January 2022.
NHS Lothian’s Care Home Programme Team was introduced in May 2020 as part of several roles created to support care homes through the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing recovery. “Many teams have been created and other teams have grown because of additional funding from Health Boards and Scottish Government. This has enabled NHS Teams to work more closely alongside Care Homes and Care at Home,” Audrey says.
“Our main role is to support care homes with tests of change and Quality Improvement projects they might want to take forward. We are working very closely with The Lothian Care Academy, helping to support the roll out of pilot projects on several topics, including Mentorship, Anticipatory Care Planning and Dementia Care. To help with this work, we map current processes within care homes with the aim of supporting staff to identify ways of improving these processes and therefore outcomes for staff and residents.
“It has been a steep learning curve,” Audrey admits. “It’s a completely new team, and I haven’t been a manager since I was a charge nurse in 2005 – everything was still on paper back then! But I really, really enjoy it. We are building a team from the beginning and finding our way together, and we all have the same passion. We all want to make a difference and support care homes.”
When asked about whether she has seen vaccination make a difference in care home populations, Audrey strongly agrees. “Vaccination has made a huge difference, we are no longer seeing care home residents die from COVID”. she says. “When I worked in the Health Protection Team, we were working very closely with care homes. That was before any vaccines were available, which was very difficult – for us, for the care home staff, but most of all for the residents and their families.
“Now, residents across the health board are all fully vaccinated and have had their boosters, and there’s a lot less anxiety and fear. Residents who previously would probably not have survived a COVID-19 infection are now able to fight it and recover with the help of the vaccine and the support from care home staff. It’s amazing to see.
“What happens in the community reflects what happens in Care Homes. The most important thing we can do to keep our vulnerable community members safe is to stay on top of our vaccinations and follow the guidelines.
“The pandemic has taught us all to be more mindful of those more vulnerable in society, including those with disabilities, and it has shown how important it is for those voices to be represented at every level of care and decision-making. “
