Celebrating our incredible Nurses this International Nurses Day
11 May 2021
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has shown to the world the vital role that Nurses play in supporting people to stay well and healthy.
This International Nurses Day, we’re shining a light on the incredible Nurses who work across our Exemplar Health Care homes and sharing what they love about working as a Nurse in social care.
Jack – Trainee Nursing Associate at Neville Court care home in Barnsley
Jack is a Trainee Nursing Associate (TNA) at Neville Court in Barnsley.
The TNA programme is delivered via an apprenticeship, which means that learners spend one-two days studying each week, alongside learning on the job at their dedicated care home. Once learners have finished their training, they can qualify as a Nursing Associate, and do further training to become a Registered Nurse.
Jack shares: “Working as a Trainee Nursing Associate is one of the best opportunities I’ve had to work full time and study to progress in my career.
“I work alongside the Registered Nurse on my unit carrying out delegated clinical tasks to help me to learn on the job.
“I really enjoy this role as I am able to learn and progress to the completion of a foundation degree, whilst also gaining valuable work experience.
“In the future I would love to become a Registered Nurse.”
Laina – Registered Nurse at Pathways care home in Sutton-in-Ashfield
Laina previously worked in the Community Nursing Team for her local NHS Trust, before joining Pathways as a Registered Nurse in 2015.
Pathways is a learning disability service, and in her role, Laina supports people with their nursing needs and is involved in assessing, planning and reviewing people’s care to ensure that it meets their needs and goals.
She loves working as a Nurse in social care because she gets to build great relationships with service users and see the difference she makes each and every day.
She shares: “The reason I decided to move into the private health care sector was because they provide long-term care which enables you to really get to know your service users.
“I enjoy building that trust and relationship with our service users and their families. It gives me job satisfaction being a part of a team that supports people to meet their desired goals.”
Julie – Unit Manager at Fairburn Mews care home in Castleford
In her fourties, Julie decided that she was ready for a career change. She had been working in retail as a manager of a shop, but was craving for something different.
When local care home, Fairburn Mews, first opened in 2006, she applied for a role as a Health Care Assistant. Since then, Julie has retrained as a Registered Nurse (RGN) and is now a Unit Manager at the home in Castleford.
“My favourite part of the job is working directly with our service users and making their every day better,” she says. “And it’s nice being able to work closer to home – I have a much better work life balance.”
What would you say to others thinking about retraining as a Nurse:
“I realised that the fears I had about starting a new career later in life were actually what helped me the most as a Nurse,” says Julie. “The life experience that I have is different to someone fresh out of university.”
“For those thinking of switching careers later in life – do it! It’s incredibly rewarding to pursue a dream I’ve had all my life. This is the proof that age really is just a number.”
Lindsay – Commissioning Home Director at Ribble View care home in Preston
In her twenties, Lindsay achieved a degree in forensic psychology and after working in a forensic setting for a few years, returned to university to train as a Nurse.
From her first working day, Lindsay always wanted to work in social care.
She shares: “I want to be a part of people’s everyday routine and I prefer to support people longer term. I love seeing the gradual process and how we support people to achieve their potential.
“Having time to get to know people, and build relationships, trust and rapport is powerful when working with people with complex needs, and you can do this in social care.”
When Lindsay qualified, she worked as a Registered Mental Health Nurse with a complex care provider for almost ten years. In this role, she did lots of training to keep her skills up-to-date and progressed into a range of management positions, including Hospital Director
Lindsay then decided to ‘spread her wings’ and joined Exemplar Health Care as a Commissioning Home Director.
In this role she’s responsible for the day-to- day running of Ribble View care home, leading the team to achieve their goals, and ensuring high quality care provision.
Nursing careers with Exemplar Health Care
There are lots of opportunities for Registered Nurses at all levels with Exemplar Health Care. Read more about nursing careers with us, and find your local role on our job search.