“I am the Lead Nurse for Stroke at York Hospital, prior to which I was the Stroke Clinical Nurse Specialist at the Trust, where I have worked for nine years.

“Like many kids growing up I had no idea of which career path to take.  Thoughts were as diverse as a footballer, to working in the city in banking - and back in the 1980s nursing certainly wasn’t mentioned in any career talks that I attended.  However following A levels I worked as an auxiliary nurse, the equivalent of a healthcare assistant today, and I loved it.  I went on to complete my nurse training in 1995 at Leeds and the rest as they say is history!

“During my years working as a qualified nurse I developed an interest in caring for individuals who experienced neurological problems.  In doing so, I developed a passion for the role of research nurse within stroke and as a general role within the NHS, and the importance of research in improving patient outcomes.

“Stroke is a devastating condition, with someone in the UK experiencing a stroke every 5 minutes, and is the second leading cause of death worldwide.  Here within our region of North Yorkshire we treat approximately 1000 new stroke patients per year.

“In York we cover an acute service across North Yorkshire by offering patients an innovative model of acute stroke management called the ‘York Triage, Treat and Transfer’ model.  This is a nurse led service run by stroke nurses in Scarborough, who triage, treat and transfer acute stroke patients to York.  This is the first of its kind in the UK and a great achievement for the teams on both sites.

“Stroke care has developed tremendously since I qualified as a nurse.  It has changed from a condition where it was thought little could be done, to now, where we treat an acute stroke as a medical emergency - where time is brain, the quicker an individual with symptoms of stroke gets into hospital and gets treated, the better their outcome.  As a result, more people are now able to live independently following their stroke.

“I am absolutely passionate about improving stroke care by benchmarking against other services and national standards.  Whilst working in the Trust I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to represent our stroke service at various national awards - celebrating the fantastic, innovative work that goes on within our service locally.

“During my 26 years working in the NHS I’ve worked with some amazing individuals and teams who, on a daily basis, go above and beyond to deliver the best care to patients.  I feel very proud to work for the NHS and look forward to many more years working within this fantastic health care system.”