Please tell us about yourself
Hello, my name is Naomi Assame and I am a registered nurse.
I live in West Yorkshire with my husband, two teenage boys and our bearded dragon called Rocky.
Sport is a big feature of my life. I can often be found rowing with Leeds Rowing club, on the side-line of a rugby pitch or in the general vicinity of a gym or swimming pool.
Please tell us about your role at NHS Resolution
I have been working at NHS Resolution since December 2019.
I have been the Head of the Safety and Learning team since December 2022. It is a great honour and privilege to lead our fabulous team who engage with members regarding their claims, support learning events and forums as well as produce some brilliant learning resources.
Please describe your nursing background
I qualified as a nurse in 2003 and started my nursing career in general surgery at St James’s University hospital in Leeds where I later became a surgical nurse practitioner based with the hospital’s emergency department.
In 2011, I qualified as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner and initially worked in General Surgery at Barnsley Hospital. For the last ten years, I have worked at a walk-in centre in West Yorkshire and continue to fill a weekend shift there on a monthly basis.
Prior to joining NHS Resolution, I was the clinical governance lead for Local Care Direct who are a community owned provider who deliver Out of Hours GP services across West Yorkshire as well as two urgent treatment centres, a walk-in centre and emergency department streaming.
I have always had a passion for improving patient safety. Until recently, I taught on the MBChB programme at Leeds University and played a key role in delivering the patient safety strand of the curriculum.
Promoting and improving patient safety through education and research remains my special interest.
What inspired you to become a nurse?
If I were to ask my 19 year old self what my future careers aspirations were, I don’t think nursing would have been the answer I gave! My first degree is in Human Movement Science and Physical Education and my early career aspirations centred on becoming a PE teacher.
However, during my undergraduate degree, I had a two-year placement at a specialist school for children with physical disabilities. The children and teachers at the school were truly inspirational. This placement, coupled with a holiday job working in a local nursing home as a health care assistant, opened my eyes to a career in health car. These experiences made me I realise how much I enjoyed caring for people and that a career in nursing would be very rewarding indeed.
Whilst my life is still steeped in sport, I am so pleased that I chose a career of nursing over becoming a PE teacher.
Why is it so important to have colleagues working with a clinical background at NHS Resolution?
The clinical knowledge and skill of the Safety and Learning team is vast and like myself, many of the team continue to work in clinical roles. Not only does this enhance the credibility of the team, it enables us to remain relevant. Our understanding of current best practice informs the conversations we have with members and beneficiaries and the content of the learning resources that the team produce.
Why do you think your nursing experience brings value to your role at NHS Resolution?
Every day, I apply the clinical and operational expertise that I have developed throughout my nursing career to my current role. This can be in strategic meetings discussing the action required to implement recommendations made within our publications, when supporting to clinicians to learn from claims or in assisting in the fair resolution of a claim by attending mediations.
International Day of the Nurse 2023
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