“I am lead nurse for medicines management, and work for the Chief Nurse team and pharmacy.  I have one team member and we work closely on projects such as the newly qualified nurse preceptorship programme, the Trust’s ward accreditation tool and various other projects at the Chief Nurse team’s request.  From a medicines perspective I am non-medical prescribing lead and chair of the Trust’s non-medical prescribing/patient direction group.

“From the age of 12 I knew I wanted to be a nurse - but I didn’t tell anyone until I began applying to do my training, which I did in Harrogate.  I qualified in 1991 and started working as a staff nurse in Harrogate on neuro rehab.  I later moved to York, my hometown, in April 1995 to work in orthopaedics which I had wanted to do since my orthopaedic placement during my training.  I spent 13 years working in orthopaedics and during this time was supported to undertake the orthopaedic nursing course in Bradford, working in Leeds hospitals during the practical placements.

“I have been a nurse for nearly 30 years and what is great is the variety of opportunities that are available for nurses in the NHS.  During my time I have worked in a number of different areas from elderly medicine to infection prevention as a research nurse - to name but a few!  I have enjoyed every single role for different reasons.  I really enjoy my current role as I have a wide variety of work which keeps me on my toes and allows me to access all areas in the organisation.

“One of the biggest changes I have seen in the NHS is the introduction of electronic prescribing and medicines administration (EPMA), which I am heavily involved with introducing at the Trust.  As medicines increase in number, the complexity and the interactions between them also increases so the new EPMA system provides us with more robust monitoring and additional tools to manage medicines safely, in a way not possible before.  The other change which I remember the most was the phasing out of mercury thermometers, as it was so significant at the time.

“I love that no two days are the same and that I get to influence the quality of patient care through our staff.   I enjoy meeting and working with different staff groups and this also gives me regular patient contact.  I feel that if I don’t have that contact I can’t credibly speak for staff who are delivering patient care day in and day out.

“I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to nurse so many different patients from all areas throughout my career.  I love coming into work and I am incredibly proud to tell people that I am part of the NHS.”