Celebrating our people on International Nurse's Day
In celebration of International Nurse’s Day 2024, we have the privilege of hearing from some of our incredible colleagues, each offering a unique glimpse into their experiences over the course of their nursing careers.
Read more below from:
· Laura Faulkner , Ambulance Nurse
· Lesley Oates , Complex Care and Support Clinician
· Charlene Dsouza , Senior Nurse Clinician
· Lerryn Udy , Head of Safeguarding
· Soomi Rafique Khokhar , EOC Triage Nurse
Laura Faulkner
Ambulance Nurse
Can you tell us a little bit about you and your current role?
My name is Laura Faulkner, I’m a registered Nurse. Originally, I’m from a little town outside of Liverpool called Runcorn, I now live in Liskeard with my husband and three children. I love baking especially brownies and exploring the South West.
I’m currently based at Liskeard station as an Ambulance Nurse. I feel very honoured to have taken part in the Nurse conversion course to SWASFT, allowing me to fulfil my dream of working for the ambulance service and work to the same scope of practice as a Paramedic. There has been a lot to learn but it has been a fantastic journey joining the team.
Where has your nursing career taken you so far?
My career spans over 17 years within the NHS, I’ve worked in many different backgrounds including cardiac medicine/ surgery, urology, Bariatric, plastics and vascular surgery, 6 years of emergency department in both Portsmouth and Plymouth. I have an BSc degree in Urgent and Emergency Care and more recently in my career, I was a Minor Injuries Practitioner in Cornwall and practice education.
What’s the best thing about your job?
The best thing about my current role is the diversity of the role. You never know what you’re going to or where. It’s a privilege to wear the green uniform and be allowed to see people at their worst and give them the help they require.
Anything else you would like to add?
I’d like to say a huge thank you to the SWASFT team for the amount of support given since I joined in October 2023. From the Learning and Development team, the crews supporting my placements and preceptorship - thank you for the laughter, the random conversations at 2am outside the ED, the teamwork and generally just being amazing people.
Lesley Oates
Complex Care and Support Clinician
Can you tell us a little bit about you and your current role?
I am Devonshire born and bred, raised in a little village called Horrabridge, subsequently a town called Tavistock, before moving to Exeter in 1980 to start my Nurse training. I was widowed many years ago; now live in Feniton with Scamp, my Jack Russell terrier. I have one son who lives in Exeter with his wife and my four grandchildren aged 11 and 9 including twins, aged 2 years, who I adore.
Having always loved horses and riding, I bought my own equine when aged 34, fulfilling a lifelong ambition. I have continued keeping a horse since, until very recently. I love getting to know people and often feel the need to apologise for asking too many questions. Finding out about people, comes with the territory of being a Nurse!
I joined SWASFT in January 2010 as a Clinical Supervisor and remember my first day well. There had been heavy snow fall, the roads were treacherous, and I had to borrow my friends 4x4 to get to work and parked in a Landmark space (still a crime back then) however, I was forgiven as the markings were covered in snow.
I can remember waiting in reception for my then manager, also a Nurse Sue Tuckett. I had seen the job advertised and just knew it was ‘my job’ but did not really appreciate what I would be doing. I remember thinking, “surely everyone who calls 999, needs an ambulance” … how naive. However, the veil was soon swept from my eyes, (or rather ears as telephone triage role), dealing with a variety of interesting calls!
Back then, there was only one clinician in control with Emergency Medical Dispatchers, Dispatch, Duty Managers and Patient Transport Services all in the same room and we were concerned if there was even one emergency call waiting. The clinical role and focus has changed completely now.
Now, my substantive role is still triaging calls in the control room although currently, I am on a secondment with the Complex Care and Support team. This role has given me a much deeper understanding and compassion for the often heartbreaking, underlying reasons for those high intensity user calls, but still appreciating the stress the demand places on staff, the Trust and wider NHS.
Recently, I completed the theory aspect of a Psychology Diploma and gained a deeper understanding of why people act in certain ways. This has really helped with my role as a Complex Care Clinician. I love and gain great satisfaction from this role. When a girl contemplating my career choice, another consideration was becoming a police officer, because of the investigative work. Being a Nurse in the Complex Care Team fulfils this part of my character as you have to be a bit of a detective.
For over thirty years, I have been heavily involved with a 12-step program called Al Anon, which helps the friends and families of alcoholics deal with the plethora of emotions involved. I have an avid interest in the psychology of addiction and the information and experience gained within Al Anon has further aided my understanding of complex patients, many of whom are addicts… sometimes to calling 999.
The best aspect of my current role is when someone’s specific care needs are met appropriately, leading to improved quality of life. It gives such a buzz and the subsequent reduction in calls to SWASFT, is a bonus.
Where has your nursing career taken you so far?
I cannot believe it, but I am contemplating my retirement, and nearing the end of my nursing career.
In one capacity or another, I have been with the NHS since around 1978, starting as a volunteer in my local cottage hospital, in Tavistock. Over 40 years ago! Where has that time gone?
On leaving school, I applied for various Nursing Schools, (pre the degree route and university, again showing my age), and decided upon the Royal Devon & Exeter hospitals to train. I qualified in 1983, being one of the first Nurses to obtain the ‘Registered Nurse’ title, previously State Registered Nurse, SRN. My first position was as a Staff Nurse in The Exeter Eye Infirmary, now a swanky hotel.
In 1984, I commenced my midwifery training, again in Exeter and qualified in 1986.
Most of my time as a Midwife was spent in midwifery-led, community hospitals and also as a Community Midwife. My nursing qualification greatly underpinned my experience as a midwife and on the community, looking after families holistically. It was always an honour to get to know them. Hating injustice, this is where I developed a special interest in safeguarding and advocacy.
What’s the best thing about your job? What might you say to someone considering a career in nursing?
Nursing as a career has served me extremely well. As a widow and a single parent, it has given me flexibility to work in a worthwhile, respected, although sometimes challenging profession. The tricky situations have helped me grow as a person, gain resilience, and become the strong independent, sometimes outspoken person I am now. It has taught me, a problem is just something to get around, in the best way possible.
It has given me the ability to lead a fulfilling life and provide for my son when he was a child.
It is a job with many transferrable skills, giving the ability to work in different environments and even other countries. There is scope to do further training, specialize in many different areas, assume leadership opportunities, and even contribute to government policy and formulation of British laws.
It is a profession where you can advocate and make a real difference in people’s lives and ultimately society. It does not have to be big gestures, but just something as simple as holding someone’s hand can be what is required.
It is a vocation, and I am proud to call myself a Nurse.
Charlene Dsouza
Senior Nurse Clinician
Can you tell us a little bit about you and your current role?
Hello everyone, my name is Charlene Dsouza recruited by SWASFT as a proud International Nurse who is passionate about nursing. I believe being competent and compassionate are the cornerstone of delivering high quality patient care. I have honed my critical thinking skills through years of clinical experience allowing me to make a sound and timely decisions in the fast-paced healthcare environment.
I would describe myself as an extroverted, energetic, dynamic, approachable, light-hearted and positive person. I’m a passionate about teaching and love to learn and share knowledge with others and keep myself updated. I am a hardworking and driven individual who isn’t afraid to face a challenge. Moreover, I am quite ambitious, focussed and determined.
Where has your nursing career taken you so far?
I started my career in Dubai working in the prehospital environment for Dubai Corporation for Ambulance services for almost 12 years where I worked as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) basic for 5 years and 7 years as a Senior Life Support Instructor.
I moved to the UK in March 2022 for better prospects and worked at the Royal Devon and Exeter University hospital for 1 year as a Band 5 Nurse in the Dementia ward and as Band 6 Acute Care of the Elderly Specialist Nurse. My drive has always been to work with the Ambulance service, and I got the opportunity to be a part of SWASFT in July 2022 as a Band 6 Triage Nurse Clinician and now as a Band 7 Senior Nurse Clinician.
What’s the best thing about your job? What might you say to someone considering a career in nursing?
Throughout my nursing career I have always been driven by the desire for professional growth and advancement. I believe that continuous learning and adaptation are essential for success. The best part of my current role is that I must make quick decisions with safest outcome in the best interest of my patients with a calm and reassuring manner. As a Senior Clinician, I have to provide support, advice and mentorship to my colleagues within the EOC Clinician Team and clinical advice and direction to non-clinicians as well .
To pursue nursing as a career I strongly emphasis that one must need to be driven, compassionate, be dedicated, hardworking and strive for professional development and growth. As a saying goes: “Save one life, you are a hero. Save 100 lives, you are a Nurse”.
Anything else you would like to add?
I want to thank the Devon Alliance recruitment team and SWASFT for their constant support and providing me the opportunity to grow and excel at my workplace.
Overall, as an individual, I always pursue my motto in life which is “believe in yourself and your dreams” and “never quit, nothing is impossible”.
Lerryn Udy
Head of Safeguarding
Can you tell us a little bit about you and your current role?
I joined the Trust in December 2023 as Head of Safeguarding and my role is to work across the Trust to provide the strategic, operational, professional and clinical leadership, across the safeguarding portfolio which includes; adult safeguarding, children's safeguarding, domestic abuse, prevent and Complex Care / Frequent Caller Service.
I am new to SWASFT and ambulance services having come from an integrated acute and partnership Trust safeguarding team.
Where has your nursing career taken you so far?
Both my parents worked in St. Lawrences Hospital (a large, now defunct, asylum in Bodmin). I have fond memories of visiting the old hospital during school holidays and mixing in with the staff and patients (as we did at the time!).
I trained as a Mental Health Nurse straight from school, developing a particular interest in Psychiatric Intensive Care which led me to spending time as a co-opted member of the National Association of Psychiatric Intensive Care Units (PICU). I left the PICU to work with patients who required assertive outreach in the community.
In 2009 I moved from the Partnership Trust to an Acute Trust as a Practice Facilitator and due to my background, I also offered to support the Trust with their mental health patients. In 2011 I was offered a role as the Mental Health Lead which sat within the Safeguarding team, and the mental capacity lead was added to my portfolio. During that time, I also managed the Learning Disabilities and Autism Liaison team and supported the introduction of Health Independent Domestic Abuse Advocates (IDVAS), Hospital Drug and Alcohol Services and Independent Mental Capacity Advocates (IMCAs).
In 2018 I made a successful bid for £1.5m to the Department of Health to build and develop IMPACT - a hub where staff from Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust’s (RCHT) safeguarding service (adults, children and midwifery); psychiatric liaison; complex care and dementia; Addaction; Shelter; SEAP Advocacy; child and adolescent mental health in-reach and perinatal mental health teams can be based in a single location so they can provide prompt, joined-up care for people who are vulnerable to, experiencing, or recovering from a mental health crisis or complex needs. The hub was completed and opened in 2020 – just before the pandemic!
Although I am not a natural academic, in 2019, I completed a Masters in Advance Clinical Practice, and my dissertation was a systematic review of the experiences of mental health patients who frequently attend the Emergency Department. Choosing a topic that I was passionate about and was relevant to my work helped get me though the early morning and late-night study sessions!
In 2022 I went a full circle as the Acute Trust Safeguarding Team and the Partnership Trust Safeguarding Team integrated, I moved back to working from an office on the grounds of the old St. Lawrences Hospital.
What’s the best thing about your job? What might you say to someone considering a career in nursing?
The best thing about my job is the patients. I find working with individuals who are marginalised by society because of mental health or complex needs exceptionally rewarding, they are people who have often experienced trauma, abuse and neglect, but also have a lot to offer and stories to tell – but it can be hard for them to find people to listen. This is closely followed by the colleagues I have worked with along the way, dedicated, smart and funny people who do their best in sometimes exceptionally difficult circumstances to help others. Nursing is a very human career all about connection and that is where I find the most joy in my work.
I would say to people considering a career in nursing that it can take you anywhere, it is a profession with so many avenues and specialisms, many of which you will never hear about unless you work in that specialism or access the service as a patient. The opportunities are endless!
Anything else you would like to add?
I am grateful for the experiences that being a Nurse has given me. I have worked hard and been very fortunate in my career. I’m looking forward to my next chapter within SWASFT.
Soomi Rafique Khokhar
Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Triage Nurse
Can you tell us a little bit about you and your current role?
My Name is Soomi Rafique Khokhar, I am from Pakistan (land of love and hospitality). I completed my nursing qualifications in 2006 and have been working in the Intensive Care Unit and Teaching department for the last 17 years.
I recently joined SWASFT, learning a different way to help our community. I must say the whole team at SWASFT is amazing.
Where has your nursing career taken you so far?
I started my nursing career from Pakistan, and I have travelled a lot being a Nurse and I feel proud of it. Being a Critical Care Nurse, I was part of a team which moves unwell patients from one part of the world to another.
I have travelled to Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Dubai (United Arab Emirates and stayed there for 5 years). I also took sick patients from Pakistan to the USA (New York), staying for a few months, and was given the opportunity to teach a few sessions in New York to the new nursing students. I continued my travel to Europe (Germany, Austria, Berlin to name a few) and have been visiting United Kingdom since 2016, so decided to move with family in 2020.
What’s the best thing about your job? What might you say to someone considering a career in nursing?
Being a Nurse, your interaction with patients and with their families is always a challenging but highly rewarding job because a Nurse is not only looking after a patient, you are also caring for that patient’s family and loved ones.
My words for the current and future nursing force are to be always proud of yourselves – our job is amazing. Try your best to help needy people whatever role you are in.