LIFE-CHANGING KINDNESS
By the inspirational woman who’s risen to become Britain’s nursing boss
When I began nursing in the eighties, one of the first things I recognised was the importance of volunteers in the Nhs. Their kindness, their energy, their skills and their enthusiasm supplemented the nursing workforce in so many ways.
One man in particular sticks in my memory. Let’s call him Bill: he would shave each of the male patients in the morning, a small but time-consuming service that invariably made men feel better.
They both looked and felt well cared for. And of course it was an opportunity for Bill, who was retired, to have a chat with each of them. I’ve never forgotten what a difference ‘Bill’s shaves’ made.
Bill was on hand too, to give support to male patients who felt embarrassed when female nurses attended to their personal care and ablutions. For some men, it feels more dignified to have another man around.
Most of all, I remember the beautiful bond Bill formed with a patient in the final stages of Parkinson’s disease. This man could not even feed himself. The psychological impact of such an illness can be heavy, but Bill helped him bear it.
he sat with the patient every lunchtime, encouraging him to eat, keeping his spirits up and developing a real friendship. The value of what Bill gave to that hospital ward was beyond calculation.
Long before my three years’ training was over, I was convinced that the NHS would always need volunteers. As a staff nurse, I relied on them, and generations of nurses have done – and continue to do – the same. It is why I am whole-heartedly backing the Mail’s hospital help force campaign and am delighted to see the fantastic response from readers so far.
It’s important to realise that it’s a two-way street – volunteers gain a huge amount by serving their communities and can enrich their lives by forming new friendships and taking because on we new got responsibilities. to know the volunteers, As nurses, sometimes over many years, we knew they could be relied upon and trusted, for example by supporting patients who had no relatives or friends to visit – whether that was taking them into the hospital garden and sitting with them, reading to them, cutting their hair and trimming their nails, or simply sitting and providing a listening ear while people reflected on their lives. They had the time and the commitment to do this clinical well, staff and meet they all were the crucial needs in – physical helping and psychological – of their patients. It is important for nurses to give personal care too, of course. It’s part of our duty, and provides an important opportunity to spot
I’m whole-heartedly backing the Mail campaign. Some people argue every hospital job should be done by trained NHS staff ... that’s unachievable: there are 42,000 nursing vacancies in England alone
symptoms. If I’m bathing a patient, for instance, I might pick up the signs and symptoms of underlying illnesses such as a deep vein thrombosis.
But volunteers can be trained to report patient concerns too and bring these to the attention of nurses or doctors. And we shouldn’t forget that many volunteers bring pre-existing life and professional skills to volunteering that can be a great asset in a hospital.
Volunteering is also a useful way for teenagers to learn first-hand about care-giving and the health service. By volunteering regularly at a hospital, they will learn far more about real life than they could in the classroom.
They might discover a vocation for nursing or another healthcare-related career, and they will certainly find they have talents, such as a gift for listening, that they might want to nurture, and that will prove invaluable in their future careers. And again it’s a reciprocal arrangement, because the young benefit from the wisdom and life experience of the older people they meet.
I learnt so much from my patients about their lives post-war and at times they shared how they coped with their long-term conditions.
Some people argue that every job in a hospital should be done by a trained member of NHS staff. But that’s completely unachievable at the moment: there are 42,000 nursing vacancies in England alone.
Since its birth 70 years ago, the NHS has always relied on volunteers for a range of activities, and to imagine that we can do without them is unrealistic and wrong.
Sadly, over the course of my career, volunteers have become less numerous. By the beginning of this century, people seemed less willing to offer their skills and time unpaid. The reasons for this are complex, but here’s hoping the Mail’s initiative will change all that, bringing volunteers back to the frontline, something that I know nurses will appreciate very much.
The burden on our nurses is huge. When I started, it was normal for a nurse to have a manageable number of patients in her care, during the day.
Today, as I travel the country, many nurses report that they are looking after too many patients to keep them safe.
Volunteers can help shoulder that burden. Without them, it’s very difficult for an overworked nurse to find the time to sit with someone – perhaps chatting to them or sharing a companionable silence.
Anybody who wants to make a difference to our health service can do it – by committing their time and dedication just like Bill did.