[00:00:00] Narrator: This podcast is intended to support UK health care professionals with education. The information provided in this podcast is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment, and patients are encouraged to consult health care providers, including nurses, for any medical questions they may have.

or concerns.

[00:00:23] Hannah: Welcome to stoma and continence conversations from coloplast professional where health care professionals and experts by experience discuss the latest hot topics in the worlds of stoma, continence care and specialist practice. I'm Hannah Patterson, I've worked in specialist care and I'm currently the ostomy care associate education manager at coloplast.

On today's podcast, we're meeting the newest member of the team, Polly Weston.

[00:00:49] Polly: Sometimes in the NHS, the workload is so overwhelming that rather than wonder how we can support each other in a way that we can all grow, we're all just trying to get through the day. There's an element of driving up confidence for clinicians.

Open up those trigger questions about bowels and hopefully patients can actually feel confident to speak to somebody, to a healthcare professional.

[00:01:16] Hannah: Oh, hello and welcome to the podcast and joining me today as I've said is the lovely Polly. Hi Polly. Thank you for joining me. Oh, hello

[00:01:25] Polly: Hannah. Thank you so much for inviting me to this podcast.

It's lovely.

[00:01:29] Hannah: You're more than welcome. It's becoming a bit of a thing now. I have to get everybody new on to join us. So I had to get you on. Sorry, we've been had a bit of a delay because of the summer and things like that, but we're here now. So I'd like to start off. I'm not going to steal your thunder or anything.

I'd like you to do your own. Introduction, if you tell us, you know, how long you've been with Coloplast for and what your role is,

[00:01:51] Polly: please. So I joined Coloplast on the 4th of June. It's been quite nice to have a little bit of a delay, Hannah, because it's given me a chance to really get embedded into my role and get to know people.

Um, and have an opportunity to really think about what my role is going to be like. So I've been employed as a medical marketing manager. And what that really means is that they've employed me with my clinical expertise, particularly regarding bowel care. And that's a new role. It's not a role that Coloplast has had before, so it's been a really exciting opportunity to think how this role can support the marketing team regarding bowel care, and really looking at that interplay within the pelvic health space as to what sort of clinical support could actually help to actually look at that.

What Coloplast can do in the future and obviously the big drive being education and support to healthcare professionals.

[00:03:01] Hannah: Fantastic. So as I alluded to, you are part, we're part of almost the Coloplast professional team. We are very much focused on education. You did mention your clinical expertise. So what was your job role before you joined Coloplast?

Where did that area evolve from?

[00:03:19] Polly: Before I joined Coloplast, I worked for 16 years as a clinical lead, uh, for a bladder and bowel team, which is a community based role, and that was a team of specialist nurses working in bladder and bowel health, and I had actually been working pretty much my whole career with an element of bowel care.

When I qualified, uh, quite a number of years ago, Hannah, uh, I worked initially on a colorectal unit and following that, I specialized in stoma care and I stoma nurse and during that time as a stoma nurse, I also did some work looking at the psychology of a surgery that has such an alteration to your body image and really looked at that kind of counseling element.

And it was then that I was drawn to the bladder and bowel role. So, um, I think I started in bladder and bowel Um, 22 years ago, becoming the team leader 16 years ago. So I always like to say, I've always had the bowel and I inherited the bladder.

[00:04:33] Hannah: That sounds painful.

[00:04:35] Polly: Exactly. It's an interesting one because for some people, Hannah, this topic feels like a bit taboo and people questioned in the NHS, why would you choose your whole career with a focus on bowels?

And actually, I think for me personally, that first. nursing role when I qualified on a colorectal board really, really had a huge impact on me. And when you think of how the world has developed since then, when I look back at that time and think what the offerings were for people, and now when I think about what we can do, it actually I'm, it's a great pleasure to be able to stay in that role and keep focused on bowel care and use that expertise and sometimes draw on that experience that I've had in that field because you really think to yourself, gosh, it's amazing now what we can do to support our patients.

[00:05:27] Hannah: Absolutely. I mean, bowel care has evolved so much, even in. Almost more recent years within the last 10 years. I think there's been so much of an evolution and I think absolutely you're right, what you said about the taboo, but I think there is slowly, slowly, there is becoming less of the poo taboo almost, and there is more of it going on, I know soap operas are starting to address bowel care a little bit more now, which is amazing that things are being discussed on almost daily basis.

daytime television, kind of thing, well evening television, prime time television, I think they call it. And it's amazing to get that recognition now. with what we do, talking about bowel care, bowel health and getting that importance out there. And I think it's great that you've had that longevity. And I think a lot of professionals, once you've got in a bowel care role, it is it with you for life.

You don't see many nurses or professionals that deviate. They might do like ourselves have done and go from NHS to business, but actually, It's something that's always, I can't imagine myself ever moving away from bowel, stoma care and likewise I don't think you could ever imagine yourself moving away from visor care, bowel care and things like that, is that right?

[00:06:43] Polly: Honestly, Hannah, listening to that, the way you presented that concept to me really resonates with me and I think look back in my career. So one of the arms of my role is that for the last five years I've been the chair of the Association for Continence Professionals and it's been such a privilege to lead the executive committee and really try and make sure that we are driving excellence in bladder and bowel care and making sure education to healthcare professionals within that field ensures that patients do get the right advice at the right time.

And within that role, I've been really lucky that I've been able to do some quite big pieces of work for World Continence Week over those years. And one of those has been a series of articles for The Guardian over the last five years. And within those articles, one of the subjects that I've been able to address is that taboo, knowing it's going into a public platform.

I've been addressing it in various different ways. And as you just said, Hannah, alluding to celebrities or getting out there in different platforms is the way forward. I'm really passionate about keeping the mantra that was started by Dame Deborah James, Dame Debs,

[00:08:01] Hannah: Oh absolutely

[00:08:02] Polly: amazing work she did just trying to encourage people to check their poo and really thinking about what the signs and symptoms are of something wrong with your bowels.

She really did a lot of good in sharing her thoughts and addressing such an often considered embarrassing issue. It is still there, and unfortunately, there is a part of our society where we would happily talk about the fact that we've maybe just had surgery or cancer, but we wouldn't talk about the fact that we're constipated or might leak and have accidents, or the fact that actually the reason we're not going going to that family occasion is because we are embarrassed that something might happen to our bowels.

And so those intimate conversations are still embarrassing for people to have, but it is quite rewarding to do a job where patients can actually have that opportunity to speak to a healthcare professional. And knowing in my career how powerful and empowering. It's made me realize how much I can help somebody and train my team to do their best and help somebody.

I'm hoping within this new role that there's an element of that, that we can keep going. There's an element of driving up confidence for clinicians to open up those trigger questions about bowels and hopefully patients can Can actually, um, feel confident to speak to somebody, to a healthcare professional.

[00:09:35] Hannah: And I noticed that we talk a lot about within our mask as we talk about to nurses to be curious, ask those questions and I love that it's those trigger questions that aren't necessarily the big question, but it can often trigger responses, which is what you're after. It's not necessarily coming out.

It's like with most things. It's when you talk to people about most things. It's not actually asking the big question, but it's asking the questions to almost lead them into that conversation themselves and gaining that trust. And I think that's one of the biggest privileges I always thought working within StomaCare was that bond that you get with your patients.

And I think working within speciality, you are so privileged to get that bond that you don't necessarily get on the wards and things like that. And I think. And again, this is something we always say to our specialist nurses, don't underestimate how blimming marvellous you are. In my stoma nurses, when I'm my stoma, they're still absolutely, to me, just some of the best people on the planet.

They got me through my darkest times, and I wouldn't have got through it all without them. For specialist nurses, I don't think there was, you know, they'll say, I'm just doing my job, which drives them mad. You're doing more than your job. I don't think they can ever have enough reward for what they do. I suppose, and I think you've said it there, is part of the reward is actually seeing society changes as well.

That is, that is, a reward as well within itself.

[00:11:01] Polly: It's that shift in emphasis. And I also feel what could be really rewarding in this new role for me, Hannah, is just looking at where there are gaps and really thinking about what can we do at Coloplast to support the healthcare setting in a different way?

What can we do? Because actually at the end of the day, um, one of the things that really attracted me to the company was that Coloplast really liked. get involved. They really like to listen and they really feel that they want to keep the patient and the nurses at the heart of everything that they do.

And I just thought, yes, I like that ethos. I can really see a reason to move into this field because I can stay really firmly in that clinical sector.

[00:11:50] Hannah: Coloplast Professional offers a lot of educational material for specialist nurses and healthcare professionals. Visit Coloplastprofessional. co. uk to find out more.

How aware were you of coloplast before you joined?

[00:12:06] Polly: Well, it's a company I know very well, Hannah. So for many, many years, I think the big moment for me was when Peristin, the innovation of Peristin prior to that transanal irrigation just wasn't something that we, we knew about. We didn't understand it.

It didn't exist. So I became, I would say, an early adopter and therefore I was on Coloplast's radar. Why are you using it? Why aren't other people? Let's have a look at what Poly does. And so I was really fortunate that Coloplast sort of were curious to why I was confident and the team at Coloplast asked me questions and as a result of that, I was very much involved in the masterclasses and the education that was delivered to healthcare professionals.

Um, I then, worked with a lovely lady who's still a clinical lead in Manchester called Suzanne Ryder and we developed a suitability tool for peristine so that it gave, brought confidence and then following on from that a few years ago I worked with a few people within the company to develop some tools for functional constipation and functional incontinence so that we Trying to drive up confidence, and one of the reasons why I was so keen to do that was because I realized that there's a little bit of clinical nervousness about reaching out, and that's still there, and it's how can we actually break that down, and so how to spread the message.

The confidence in such a way that people feel that they've made the right decision. And I think there's something about having the right pathway forward that really helps them. So I have had a long relationship with Coloplast, probably more, uh, lengthier on the bowel side, but actually, if I'm honest with you, Hannah, cause I was in a bladder and bowel job.

I've also done a lot of masterclasses regarding some of the ISPs. competencies and more recently, some of the innovation work, um, that they've had. And actually they've recognized me as a key opinion leader. So it was a company that I knew and I trusted and I felt a really good relationship with them.

And therefore it did feel as though I was joining a family that I'd already got to know, which was lovely.

[00:14:37] Hannah: I love the fact that you say family. I think that's really nice because it does feel like that because we're all, although we're all in different roles, we're actually all ultimately pushing towards the same goal to make life better for those patients that we were involved with.

And that ethos again, it's going back to that ethos. And it's lovely to hear that, a bit like myself, I had that relationship with Coloplast before. You do have that trust and I think it is about having that trust in a company that you know that they are there for doing the right things. They are, they're trying to do the best thing for their patients.

It's, it is, it's lovely out there and I enjoy being able to work with patients almost from day to day. a different aspect now. And I think you'll probably still, but it's a part of it. I know I find it probably for the first six months or so, quite strange that I wasn't actually seeing a patient anymore.

How are you finding that side of things at the moment?

[00:15:31] Polly: Do you know, because I've had such a whirlwind since I joined the company, because there was already things that needed developing at pace and a big event that needed, uh, to come together at I've been really lucky that I've had some quite early um, contact with some of the, uh, uh, patient ambassadors.

And we also with my role as, um, ACP chair, we have, um, conferences every year. And part of that, we like to keep. that patient story within that and use patient ambassadors. I'm really also mindful of those case studies and those patient stories coming through at some of the education events that we use that we work at and actually I've been able to still share some of the case studies that I was involved in for the first few months of this year when I was in the NHS.

So, that connectivity with the NHS still feels really real, Hannah. Maybe if you ask me that question in a few more months or a year, and actually there's a bigger time delay, but it feels real. As though the connectivity is still there. Now the other thing is, I'm still very well connected with my old team.

And if I'm honest with you, if they needed me, I'm there for them. And I don't want them to feel abandoned. All too often in the NHS, somebody leaves and no one's quite sure what to do. So for me, succession planning and making sure there was a secure, capable and confident team was a big part of it. if I did leave and when I left.

So I, I, although I'm not going to be actually the nurse looking after a patient, I'm ready for this because I don't feel like I've abandoned a caseload. I feel like the timing was right. Um, it feels aligned that now I can, um, work in a different way. And. Those patient stories that come through from myself, from other health care professionals really keep us motivated, don't you think, Hannah, and give us that drive to think, yes, this is what it's all about, is watching someone describe how much their quality of life has improved and how much the, the experience of having a good bowel assessment and the right treatment has made such a difference to their lifestyle.

[00:17:58] Hannah: Fantastic. I just want to pull on something else you said then, just because I know it's something a lot of nurses do talk about. You spoke about succession planning. I know that it's a big thing out in specialist care at the moment, and I think it almost alludes to what we said very early on that, Once a nurse is within a role, they stay there such a long time.

We're now getting to the point where there was a generation, you know, 20, 30 years ago of specialist nurses coming through. They've been there, now they're getting towards that retirement age and there is a lot of concern about succession planning. So, how did you go about that with your old team? What, what was your plan?

Because it sounds like you, you adopted it and process it all very, very well.

[00:18:45] Polly: So I was really clear with my managers for the last maybe two or three years that I felt ready for something else. Um, and that when the right opportunity came up or when the time was right, that it, you know, I would, I would be leaving the NHS.

Um, so they knew that. And therefore there was a series of things that I needed to do. We deliver quite a lot of training in my team to district nurses and to the nurses in nursing care homes. I needed to make sure all the specialist nurses in my team were confident at that training. That took about a year.

We run four courses a year and it took all four courses for People to have a chance to deliver different parts of the education for them to feel confident. So what I had to do is a big brave step and then not actually attend a training session. I did that in January of this year of this year and just say, I'm actually not going to be there.

And I knew they would fly. And they did. Now, this is way before this job was even advertised. This was just me making sure my team were fit for purpose without me and not dependent on me. And I started doing things like that in other aspects of the team, rather than me being in charge and leading every project, which I would love to do because I love to be involved.

And I needed to take a step back and hand projects to suitable people so that They could fly, and they could take it in the direction that they wanted to, and give them that encouragement to lead on little parts of the role. And within the aspects of doing that, there was one member of the team who showed such clear leadership.

You could see she was an actual coach. You could see that she was really good clinical expert. You could see she was a great role model. And so it became really apparent that if I were to leave, that we've got some clear succession planning, obviously that job was advertised and we would expect that if she applied, she's up against.

Other applicants, which you are, but I just thought that I knew in my head that whoever, you know, the interview process, she had a really good chance of developing her career. One thing the NHS doesn't always recognize is that actually sometimes you need to allow people to bow out with good grace, knowing that actually one part of my job that I feel I did well.

was succession planning and making sure that that service was future proof and the staff were fit for purpose with the right clinical skills.

[00:21:17] Hannah: Amazing. That's such good advice. And I'd say it wasn't just a, okay, I've seen this job role. I'm going to go for it now. Let's do something. I'd say it was an overall plan over about three years, you said.

Yeah. It's something I think that that's a really good piece of advice and it is something we're hearing now because I say, well, you know, with retirement, you know, it's going to be coming. So it's saying that maybe these teams can be thinking about that. Okay, we know it's going to happen. We don't, may not know exactly when, but we know it's going to happen.

So let's start putting those foundations in. I say it's almost like the baby bird out the nest really, isn't it? Making sure that baby bird's ready to fly before you. You leave it. And yeah, really lovely that you felt that your team was so well prepared to be without you, but also that you were confident enough to say, actually, I can take this backward step as well, because I think that's a big thing as well, that is having that confidence to step back as well and go, okay, you don't need me.

[00:22:17] Polly: Yeah, I mean, it's a twofold thing, Hannah. Partly, it's the confidence to say I'm not available for this training day, but you guys have got this. And the second thing is to actually bow out because I love to teach. It's my favorite part of the job. And so, actually, I have to sort of say no. Greater good is what's more important.

And if I'm there, it's easier to step in. It's easier for them to lean on me. So it was easier for me to not be there. And I knew they would manage it. And some of this came about that by default, Hannah, and it became, there was a period of time when I was. away from work. And it was during COVID and I, and they just started regrouping after COVID and we were planning and I was poorly with COVID and rather than being off work for a week or two, I was off work for six weeks because I got a really bad chest effect.

People did. I couldn't hear. I was, you know, that feeling of drowning was where I was at and they canceled things. Oh, well we can't do the training. We haven't got poly, we can't do this. And I, as soon as I got back, I thought, I'm going to make sure these girls are empowered. This team needs to know that they can work without me.

They probably could have done it, but let's really empower them. So I realized that I had a real duty of care to make sure that my service didn't falter if I wasn't there. And that made me realize, actually, if I've got the right staff, I could also plan and think, is there anything else I would like to do next?

[00:23:50] Hannah: Yeah, and I love again that use that word empowerment there because that's what we encourage our patients to have empowerment. So as a team, we need to empower your team. And I think I can't go back to that work family thing that we empower each other as a coloplast family to do well although we're all, you know, you're in the bowel care, I'm in the ostomy care, we've got Emma that deals with more of the urology side of things and we're all a family ultimately going in the same direction but just coming from a slightly different direction.

[00:24:23] Polly: Yeah. And do you know, I spend a lot of time with Emma Russell and with Michelle Hogan Trix. And even though we've all been employed for different roles, and we've got expertise that leads us in different lanes, it's quite interesting how mirrored our thoughts can be. And I really love that because as a group, there's a great professional respect.

And that really helps. It's a good starting point. And Hannah, it's been a very similar experience with yourself and Paul in the contact I've had. It feels as though we can inspire each other and empower each other, but at the same time, we've got professional respect for each of our expertise and what we bring.

And actually that's something that I think Coloplast encourages us. I've really enjoyed that because Sometimes in the NHS, the workload is so overwhelming that rather than wonder how we can support each other in a way that we can all grow, we're all just trying to get through the day.

And that's a shame really, isn't it?

There isn't time to think, I've actually learnt more by sharing this and thinking about it.

[00:25:33] Hannah: You don't necessarily appreciate what everyone else brings at that point, you're too busy trying to do it. Do what you need to do.

[00:25:38] Polly: Yes. Mm-Hmm.

[00:25:39] Hannah: And you don't necessarily appreciate what other people can do to actually help you.

[00:25:42] Polly: Exactly. You

[00:25:43] Hannah: Yeah. And it's lovely. Yeah. And what a lovely little note to I, I love it when you finish on like a positive vibe. Yes. And that, that support and I'm so glad to have been able to talk to you and hear about your passion that you are, you know, so similar to myself. I know we've spoken sort of outside of this, but.

to really hear your passion come through is absolutely fantastic. So thank you so, so much. And you will be joining me on another podcast in the future. You don't have a choice, I'm afraid.

[00:26:13] Polly: Well, thank you, Hannah. I've really enjoyed speaking with you today.

[00:26:16] Hannah: And to everybody listening, thank you very much.

And we'll join you next time. Thank you for listening. To see more of the wide variety of education we offer, please visit collaplusprofessional. co. uk. See you next time.

[00:26:32] Narrator: Stoma and Continence Conversations is a Vibrant Sound Media production for Coloplast Professional.