Laura
Advanced Diploma of Higher Education Nursing (Adult) (2006)
Laura qualified as a nurse nearly two decades ago, after studying an Advanced Nursing Diploma at the University of Bradford. (Our current closest equivalent is our BSc (Hons) Nursing (Adult) course.)
Now entering her twentieth year in healthcare, she currently works as a Clinical Donor Centre Manager at the Bradford Donor Centre.
This is her story.
As a patient myself when I was younger, I could see from an early age the great work that nurses do.
The lasting impact of nurses
"I was in and out of hospital as a child, which gave me an insight into the lasting impact nurses can have on their patients."
"As I got older, I realised that as well as being able to make a positive difference to patients, becoming a nurse would also give me a stable career path, with longevity, progression opportunities, a pension, sick pay and maternity leave.
"And it has – I’m 19 years into this career and still working hard to achieve my goals.
"I’ve developed into different roles throughout my career and I’m always striving to do better for the patients I’m looking after through continuous learning."
It's been challenging but equally rewarding. Being able to care for people at their most vulnerable is an honour.
My nursing career journey
"After university, I had a really good grounding as a newly qualified nurse at St Luke’s Hospital, which taught me how to holistically look after patients – doing their observations, feeding them, clothing them."
"I had a particular interest in women’s health, so I moved to the Bradford Royal Infirmary gynae services department where I stayed for over 10 years. I was dealing with everything from miscarriages to hysterectomies, to gynae cancers.
"It was really important to me to be there for those women and to empathise with the situation they were going through.
"I then went into district nursing where I went out to communities for a couple of years. This helped me work autonomously, and my experience in hospitals gave me the confidence I needed to go into people’s homes and give them the care they needed."
Becoming a Sister
“Becoming a Sister gave me managerial experience.”
"I got my first Junior Sister post at Westwood Park Community Hospital. I needed that next step to challenge myself and progress my nursing career, supporting other Band 5 nurses.
"I then went to work as a Sister for NHS Blood and Transplant, working in blood donation.
"This soon led to a Band 7 Senior Sister post, where I’ve been for the past six years.
"I lead a team of healthcare assistants and nurses who take blood donations from volunteers."
My role is to ensure we provide the best quality care and products for our patients.
Leadership, people management and customer care
"There’s a lot of people management and leadership required in my current role."
"I have a responsibility to nurture staff so they progress within our organisation.
"While I miss patient care and the hands-on element of nursing, I’m very aware that the job I do now is as important as those roles. I just use very different skills.
"We see between 40-60 patients a day at the donor centre, who come to us to donate blood, platelets or plasma.
"Customer care is very important as we need them to come back so we can keep providing lifesaving products for the most vulnerable patients."
My time at Bradford
"I live in Bradford so I travelled from home to go to uni."
"I had major surgery during my time training to be a nurse, but I was really well supported by Bradford, who made adjustments and ensured I never felt behind.
"The course was brilliantly run, and everything I did led me to become a really good newly qualified nurse.
"The combination of theory, assignments and placements was perfect. I secured a broad range of work placements in medical, mental health and surgical. These gave me varied experiences that made me a highly competent and confident nurse.
"I also met friends at uni that I’m still friends with now; even nurses that I still work with."
I loved my time at the University of Bradford.
Nursing involves lifelong learning
"Since completing the advanced diploma, I have been back to the University of Bradford to top up to the degree."
"I am always continuing to learn, and most recently I have completed the Professional Nurse Advocate role (PNA) at the postgraduate level.
"Now almost 20 years into my career as a nurse, my plan is to do my Master’s at Bradford."