In our series of blogs introducing volunteers and staff we work with, we are always inspired to work with teams who clearly go the extra mile. James shares some of the work he is involved in and we look forward to more from him in the future.
Hello my name is James Routen. I work at Rampton Hospital as a Health and Fitness Manager in the Therapies & Education Department at Rampton High Secure Hospital or ‘TED’ for short.
I’ve worked at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust Forensic Services for sixteen years now. I joined directly after university with a Sports Science degree. I’ve always been passionate about physical activity and good health and wellbeing for patients and staff too. Healthy body and healthy mind; you can’t have one without the other!
The reason I’ve stayed within the Trust for so long is the development opportunities and the variety on offer. Of course you have to look for it but I’ve always said you get out what you put in. People tell me I’m really positive and I always try to make the best of any situation.
I’m really proud of my team who have overcome lots of challenges at Rampton to help patients unite in our aim to manage their health and wellbeing through weight loss, structured activity and leisure.
One of the things that I’m most proud of in my career was the Olympic Campaign we ran in 2012. We used the Olympics to motivate patients and staff to get active at Rampton Hospital, so much so that the culmination was a National Award for Advancing Healthcare.
In the current climate, I feel it is more important than ever, to showcase achievements and highlight the excellent work that we deliver to patients. Care Opinion is a great way to gather online feedback. It also provides ways to improve what we do. I will be using it more regularly in the coming months and encouraging others to use it as we move forward.
A project I will be blogging about in future is the West Fields initiative; a collaborative project between staff and patients at Rampton Hospital, to transform an unused piece of land into a space to promote health and wellbeing for all. This project is in its early stages and is being supported by Nigel Groves and the Involvement, Experience and Volunteering Team. Nigel commented, ‘ It’s great to see patients getting involved in the mini-steering groups’.
About Me: I like to practise what I preach, I cycle to work everyday but I take the weekend off for family time and undoing all the good work of the week! On a Saturday I coach my son’s rugby team and enjoy cooking and surfing in my spare time.
Watch this space for more blogs!
James Routen
It is great working along side James, his Team and Patients on the West Field project and it is great to have been invited onto the project. I think the partnership working with our involvement Team is great and I am keen to support James where ever possible . I bump into James a lot at Rampton and the thing I like the most is how positive james is all the time. This is always the case when I see him with our Patients. A can do attitude rubs off on a great many Patients and staff alike. Just great !