This year Nurses and Midwives in the South East will be sharing their stories to celebrate and share good practice. 

Caroline Roberts is a Practice Matron at Bartlett Group Practice. She left a successful career as a civil servant to train as a nurse in her mid-thirties and now works in the surgery providing hands-on clinical care to patients.

Why I wanted to become a nurse or midwife

I had an early mid-life crisis when caring for my husband during his serious illness (kidney failure), which included dialysis and eventual transplant.  Funnily enough, my mum was a nurse and I didn’t listen to her advice to become a nurse when I left education – I guess timing and life experience was everything.

How my career has developed

Since I qualified I have been working in the community.  Professionally, I have developed from a registered nurse, through to team lead, then on to get my District Nursing Specialist Qualification.  I have also worked as a District Nurse lead and a Community Matron.  In July 2017, I moved to my current role with the surgery.

On a typical day

In short, there is no such thing as a typical day! I work full-time, usually starting around 08.00hrs and finishing at 16.00hrs, but am flexible as needs dictate.  My role includes; facilitating collaborative care for patients, providing mentoring and clinical supervision (including supervision to allied HCP colleagues in my role as Nurse Independent / Supplementary Prescriber), and, most importantly to me, delivery of hands-on clinical care as a specialist practitioner.

How I’ve made a difference as a nurse or midwife?

I left a very highly respected and successful career as a civil servant to train as a nurse in my mid-thirties and I have never regretted the decision since, despite a pay cut and necessity to leave my comfort zone!

Many of my nursing skills are generic and were directly transferable from previous employment, life skills and academic learning.  However, I would stress that lack of formal academic qualifications is not an automatic block to nursing study.  There is so much support with foundation year study, or apprenticeships so don’t let this hold you back from exploring a career in nursing and midwifery.  Academic knowledge is not sufficient on its own; enthusiasm, dedication and caring cannot be taught, although you will enhance these areas during training and throughout every future intervention.  Neither should age be a barrier; I’m an example of a middle-aged woman who never went to university after school and came to nursing later in life. It’s about what works for you, at the right time in your life.

I feel that my nursing values and skills align firmly with the 6 C’s and underpin all my successes in nursing:

• Care – providing the best care possible is something I am passionate about and strive to improve both my personal and professional skills continually. It is fundamentally important to me to listen to patients (their families and carers also if appropriate) and provide them evidence to make informed choices in planning their own care.  My main areas of clinical responsibility are: Learning Disability, ADHD in childhood/shared care, carer support coordinator and support to a local care home, providing a weekly ward round.  My passion is to ensure high quality care for all, including the traditionally ‘hard to reach’ groups, ensuring that unwarranted variations in care are slowly, but steadily eroded.
• Compassion – as a nurse, I feel very privileged to support some of the most vulnerable members of society throughout some of the most challenging periods of their lives. Among other things, I am the carer co-ordinator for the practice and offer tailored appointments to facilitate equitable access to services for this under-represented group.  I recognise that support must extend to involve patients in their care planning, and that family, friends and carers are also hugely important in either optimising or maintaining an individual’s well-being.
• Competence – I am proud to be a life-long learner. Continuous professional development is a crucial element of nursing for me and the day I feel I know it all will be the day I re-consider my future as a nurse.  As clinical co-ordinator, I facilitate and empower the team to share knowledge across the allied Health Care Professionals as shared care is the future and we work together to identify who is the best professional to meet an individual’s needs.  I am also a mentor, sign-off mentor and clinical supervisor and support the team with continuous development, both formally and informally. Recognising gaps in knowledge is of equal importance and staff are encouraged to strive to never stop learning!
• Communication – this is an area of strength and has been a real asset in all my nursing roles since qualification. I feel equally comfortable chatting with patients on an individual level as I do addressing members of the public, or presenting at CCG level.  I have been a team leader, facilitating difficult changes in the face of initial opposition.  I firmly believe that all members of society should be able to have their voice heard, including the vulnerable and hard to access groups within our community.  I have undertaken academic modules at masters’ level and practical workshops in an effort to continually develop advanced communication skills e.g. deaf awareness and learning disability training.
• Courage – it is important that we as nurses recognise the impact of external influences on our ability to continue excellent care in the face of adversity. I firmly believe that adversity is not insurmountable if support is made available and I am a passionate advocate for my patients who are facing some of the darkest times.
• Commitment – I will continue to advocate for both patients under my care and for the nursing profession. I am dedicated to raising the profile of community nursing in as many areas as possible,

… I would add another ‘C’ to this list:

• Challenge – nursing and midwifery has faced significant challenges in the past and community nursing in particular faces increasing on-going challenges, not least delivering high quality care through the integration of health and social care at home. I’m proud to lead a fabulous clinical team within a forward-thinking practice that continues to develop to meet the needs of our local community.

I was honoured to be awarded the prestigious title of Queen’s Nurse last year.  This is presented in recognition of my commitment to high standards of practice and I remain as passionate about delivering the best possible patient-centred care possible as ever.

What would you say to a young person interested in a career in nursing & midwifery?

Go for it!  You will be challenged; clinically, academically, professionally and personally BUT it is a hugely rewarding career with diverse opportunities.  Knowing that I truly make a difference in peoples’ lives is humbling and I am proud to call myself a nurse.  Use any opportunity to see what we nurses and midwives do; there are myriad opportunities, from formal shadowing to simple chats over a cuppa – bring the biscuits and you’ll go far.