Week of the Nurse 2022

This week we are running the Week of the Nurse, a campaign which aims to spread awareness around the simply incredible things that nurses do every at our Trust.

The aim of the week is also to show the different forms the nursing role can take, whether you want to work in mental health, children’s services, acute hospital services or something different entirely.

We know that being a nurse is both a challenging and rewarding career, but you don’t need to take it from us. Below we are pleased to share with you some insights into the nursing careers people have taken with us, here at Humber, and how they’ve been supported to grow and develop their expertise, to help their jobs continue to evolve over time.

 

Rebecca, ISPHNS Clinical Team Leader, Nurse and Health Visitor

 

I started working at Humber in 2019 as a Clinical Team Leader, which remains my title today. Though in the same job role, the various opportunities afforded to me during the last few years have been fantastic.

Working at Humber, you have the opportunity to network with many different people and establishing these connections has been invaluable to me as I develop in my role. It has ensured that I am well-connected with specialists in our services and means that we’re able to work collaboratively to deliver high standards of care to our service users.

Knowing that those in leadership positions have confidence in your abilities really fosters your growth and self-esteem. For me, it has meant that I can continue the work I do while developing new systems and networks. It also means you can bring people on the journey with you, knowing that you’re working together to develop services and help people to feel safer and confident when coming to us for support.

As we went through the pandemic, I was proud to get involved with our Covid-19 vaccination clinics. This was once again another fantastic opportunity to network with health and social care professionals who I may not have the chance to work with in my regular work.

During my time at Humber, I have been a part of the High Potential Scheme, which further supports my growth and development, and I have also been awarded the title of Queen’s Nurse in 2021, which was for my work as a Health Visitor and for developing the work of universal services in perinatal mental health, including father inclusive care and care of the infant.

I work with great and supportive people, without whom I wouldn’t have been able to achieve what I have in my career. The passion from those in my team about our role in preventative public health, and how they have risen to the challenges we have continued to face throughout the pandemic, makes me so proud of each and every one of them.

They all do incredible things every day to benefit the lives of others, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.

 

Gavin, Registered Nursing Associate

I joined the Trust as a Healthcare Assistant in 2005 and worked in this position up until 2016, when Humber supported me to undertake a foundation degree and qualify as a Band 4 Assistant Practitioner.

During this time, I was very grateful to work for an organisation that was supporting my personal and professional development, and when the opportunity arose again in 2020 to continue this growth, I was pleased to go back to university to qualify as a Nursing Associate and register with the NMC.

These opportunities are not something I take on lightly, and I’m very grateful to have been able to continue working in my team, across various roles, while actively developing my skills through education.

My new qualifications mean that I’m now taking on new challenging and shifting my role once again to accommodate my new skills and responsibilities.

Alongside my role now, I am a Physical Health Lead with the support of Staff Nurses, which means I can get more involved with testing, results and can stand in as an approver on paperwork. I also supervise students up to a certain level, which makes me feel like I’m making a difference.

My managers have been fantastic throughout this period of my career, and I can’t thank them enough, they support my ambitions and make me feel like part of the team.

When it comes to completing new qualifications in nursing, I would urge anyone to go ahead and take the opportunities presented to you. It really does change how you see things and equips you with the skills necessary to take on new challenges.

In nursing, the scope of your role is able to expand in so many directions, and it’s about finding the opportunity that lines up with your interests and ambitions. Having a great team behind you to support you to progress and grow just helps you take that next step.

 

Joanne, Scarborough Locality Matron

I joined Humber in 2018 as a Band 6 Community Nurse. My previous experience included District Nursing at York and I was ready for a new opportunity.

When I first came to Humber, it was immediately clear that both my team and management were willing to invest their time in me, and that they were ready to give me the confidence to take on new responsibilities, to develop my career and grow as a nursing professional.

When new opportunities came to me and I felt unsure whether I would be capable, all they would say is ‘go for it, you can do it’, and sometimes, seeing people who you work with every day support you and lift you up, takes you a long way. It shows you that you have what it takes to do hard things, and that you’re more than capable of taking on new challenges.

In the years I’ve been here, I’ve taken on quite a few different roles, including a Team Leader role and a complex case Manager role, both of which were very rewarding and getting involved in leadership roles provided me with additional skills which have supported me as I’ve moved forwards.

I’m now a Band 8A Locality Matron in Scarborough, which has worked out really well for me. I never thought I would want to work at this level, nor that I would be capable of it, but over time the peer support at Humber has really spurred me on to keep going and progressing in my career.

My team are always there to support me and to boost my confidence when I need it. We are always learning from one another and work together to take on the unique opportunities that a nursing career can provide. These opportunities not only help us develop our individual roles, but also to develop our team as a whole and, in turn, the services we provide. It is an exceptional clinical network to be a part of.

 

Dale, Support Worker and Student Nurse

I joined Humber’s Mental Health Liaison service as a Support Worker.

The Mental Health Liaison Team is a dedicated team which offers a service to patients presenting at Hull Royal Infirmary or Castle Hill Hospital with self-harm behaviour, acute mental illness or emotional distress. 

Our team also offers support and advice to minor injuries units in the area. It is an ageless service, which means the team offers an assessment to anyone meeting the referral criteria, regardless of their age. 

When I first joined the role, I had a good understanding of mental health and wellbeing due to my Psychology degree, but I quickly learned that working on the frontline was a much different story.

After my first few months, I felt increasingly confident in my ability to understand how an individual may be presenting, and to get them the adequate level of support that they need.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I saw that there was an Apprentice Nurse role that was out to advert, which described how individuals in roles like mine could apply to become Student Nurses.

I knew then that this was a unique opportunity within the Trust which could actively support my ambitions in health and social care. I thought it would be great to take on a new challenge, to progress in my career and to develop my skills into the broader field of nursing.

Following a successful application, my time has since been split between my Support Worker role in A&E, and my time spent on student nursing responsibilities and learning.

I’m really enjoying this challenge so far. No two days are the same, I enjoy the variation throughout the week and feel good about future prospects, knowing I have been sufficiently supported to achieve my goals and develop my career with the encouragement from my team.