Rachel qualified as a paediatric nurse from the University of Manchester in 2017 but moved back home to be closer to her family. She initially joined the Newcastle team on an inpatient ward, caring for children with respiratory illnesses but after around 18 months Rachel joined the day case surgery ward at the Great North Children’s Hospital.
Elective surgery was the area Rachel always wanted to work in after having surgery as a teenager and seeing how well the nurses cared for her. Rachel looks after children undergoing surgery or procedures under general anaesthetic covering a huge range of specialties. She helps prepare children for theatre, physically and also reassuring and supporting the children and their families – something Rachel sees as one of the best parts of her job.
What made you decide to get into this area of medicine?
After having surgery as a teenager and seeing how the nurses took care of me, I knew I wanted to be a children’s nurse and work in elective surgery. Coming into hospital for surgery could be the scariest day of their life so far for both the child and family as often children and young people don’t fully understand what is happening. No parent wants to see their child have surgery or be in pain.
I think that this makes this an area where you can make a real difference to patients, making the experience even a tiny bit better by playing with them and making them laugh, or being a reassuring support to parents. Also, it is so important to get it right and make it as positive experience as possible, as this could make or break how children engage with health services in the future.
What is your favourite part of your work?
My favourite part of my work is when we’ve had a child who leaves with a smile having come into hospital being really scared. I love all the little moments that lead up to this, whether it be playing games when taking vital signs, silly jokes and making them laugh, and giving out endless amounts of stickers because everyone loves a sticker!
What do you do in your spare time?
Outside of work I like to keep myself busy with things like sewing, knitting, gaming, swimming, quite a wide range of activities. Most importantly I like to spend lots of time with my family.
How was the filming?
The filming was really interesting, it was great to see things from the film crew’s perspective – things that are run of the mill, every day parts of our job were so impressive to them. On the show I’ll have two patients but in reality I had three others in another room – it was such a busy day and shows that patient care and the NHS stops for no-one.
I’m really proud to be part of the show, I hope it will showcase the amazing work we do and all the real people behind everything that happens here. Everyone I work with throws 100% of their energy into looking after their patients and I really hope that comes across on screen.
