Theresa Frostick

Clinical Experience

• 2011 - 2012: Registered Midwife

• 2013 - 2019: Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (Health Visitor)

Education Experience

• 2019 - 2024: Senior Lecturer, Primary and Community Care, University of Greenwich

• 2022 to date: Assessor for Recognised Practitioner in Advising Applications - UKAT

Why do you teach?

I am extremely passionate about supporting our learners in their progression and professional development; providing advice, guidance, and information to empower them to take control and responsibility for themselves, their learning and completion of their training. I attempt to create a professional partnership approach, to help our learners realise their full potential, and primarily this involves being a good role model. I treat everyone I meet with respect and value their opinions and I am open to other's thoughts, feelings, and ideas. I like to think that others can come to me for support and advice, and I really enjoy building a rapport with our learners, especially when meeting with them regularly.

Another core value of my teaching and academic advising is the ability to be inclusive and ensure that equitable environments are created and maintained. For example, I have previously worked in partnership with learners, ensuring that the content of sessions is inclusive and accessible to all.

What do you do at PCWA?

I love the fact that my teaching is so varied now and combines the knowledge and skills that I have built over my career. I have recently secured successful approval to provide City and Guilds qualifications to teach and further develop our administrative staff, and I also enjoy the opportunity to educate clinical primary care staff to undertake NHS Health Checks, complete their Care Certificate and support the teaching and assessing of learners on the General Practice Assistant Course. I also perform sessions teaching others to undertake phlebotomy, physical and physiological measurements, and chaperoning. I am also teaching and assessing staff in the local borough's Care Homes on RESTORE2, to ensure that they aware of soft signs of deterioration in their residents to enable the timely escalation of concerns.

Background

Leaving school many years ago with one qualification (typewriting) meant that I automatically settled into administration and secretarial employment. However, after twenty years of working within these roles, I finally managed to secure a secretarial role within the NHS which opened many, and quite unexpected, opportunities to me. This started with completing a City & Guilds NVQ Level 3 in Administration which gave me the confidence to want to further my studies. Therefore, in 2008, I completed my Access to Nursing course, and undertook my BSc (Hons) qualification as a Registered Midwife at the University of Greenwich in 2011. I had thoroughly enjoyed learning new knowledge and skills as a mature student, and I worked successfully as a midwife for a year when, unfortunately medical problems forced me to rethink my future career options. This led me to start my training as a Health Visitor, gaining my Postgraduate Diploma in Specialist Community Public Health Nursing (SCPHN) in 2012. In 2018, I applied for a secondment at the University of Greenwich as a Nursing Associate Practice Facilitator. This gravitated me back to the academic environment that I had previously relished, as well as opening my eyes to even further career opportunities. In 2019, I secured a teaching post within the SCPHN team and had the pleasure to be able to share my passion, enthusiasm, knowledge, and expertise in Public Health Nursing. I undertook my Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education which I completed during the Covid-19 pandemic. This exposed me for the first time to the pedagogies of higher education and expanded my peer network to that outside of my own expertise, enhancing my approaches to teaching and learning. I was promoted to a Senior Lecturer in 2023, in recognition for disseminating teaching innovations and initiatives and influencing the practice of others, as well as achieving my Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. Last year, I created extensive, innovative curriculum changes and designs to incorporate the new NMC (2022) Standards for SCPHNs, which was successfully presented at a NMC Approval Event in May 2023. I led on creating the high-quality documentation required for submission prior to the event and received a commendation for my work. I also led and influenced the project development of the new Pan London Electronic Practice Assessment Document for our SCPHN students. To maintain my professional integrity and registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, I now ensure that my teaching promotes my dedication and values to others. This reflects the needs of the primary care workforce enabling delivery of compassionate, high quality, person-centred care to benefit our local population and to support our community practice nurses in teaching junior staff in their roles (NMC, 2018).