MY PRIDE OVER 40 YEARS IN NURSING

I WAS surprised to see the picture of me (above) used to illustrate the article about the vanished age of nursing. It was taken in 1979 and I was an 18-year-old student nurse at Westminster Hospital.

I am still nursing, a career I am very proud of — I am a senior lecturer at Coventry university teaching graduate student nurses.

Matrons had gone before I started my training in 1978. Today’s nurses work extremely hard and show lifelong commitment to maintaining their competence and skills.

Graduate training is essential as a foundation for this demanding career and competence requires critical thinking and practical abilities to be equally valued, which is what today’s course aspires to achieve.