In this episode Laura meets with Ethel Changa, Clinical Advisor for the National Covid-19 Vaccination programme. They discuss her previous roles as Chief Nurse for core services and Deputy Director of Safety and standards. Ethel discusses her MSc in Nursing and gives advice for anyone wishing to study at this level. Ethel gives leadership advice and discusses the challenges she has faced as a woman of colour whilst working in senior leadership positions. She gives advice for anyone else facing similar challenges including the importance of mentorship and the impact support from a line manager can have on you, your development and your career.

In this episode Laura speaks with Nicola Rudkin, the Deputy Associate Director of Nursing for Surgery and Head of Nursing for the Queen Elizabeth Unit Critical Care Pandemic Expansion at the Royal London Hospital. They discuss Nicola's journey into critical care and the challenges she faced starting in ICU the week after the London bombings. She discusses her transition from Senior Sister to Matron and again when she became the senior nurse for peri-op (theatres, short stay surgery, pain and pre-op admission). Nicola talks about her current role as Deputy Associate Director of Nursing for Surgery.

Laura and Nicola discuss the impact the pandemic has had on critical care nurses and Nicola gives an insight into the critical care expansion which has taken place at the Royal London hospital. During the second wave of the pandemic Nicola has taken on the head of nursing role as a temporary leadership structure for critical care expansion and Nicola outlines how having a leadership coach has assisted with this transition.

In this episode Laura meets with Brigitta Fazzini, an Advanced Clinical Practitioner working within the Critical Care Outreach Team (CCOT) at The Royal London hospital.

They discuss her academic qualifications, her post graduate diploma in tropical disease medicine, her MSc in Critical Care at Queen Marys University London and the process to becoming a prescriber.

Brigitta has recently had an article published and she gives advice for anyone wishing to conduct research whilst working clinically. Brigitta is also accredited by the Intensive Care Society (ICS) in the use of Focused Ultrasound in Intensive Care (FUSIC) for heart (ECHO), lung and vein cannulation via ultrasound and she outlines her work as a mentor and supervisor for healthcare professionals undertaking this qualification.

Her article is available below:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1751143721996542

In this episode Laura speaks with Francis Fernando, Founding director of the Filipino Nurses Association UK, Head of Nursing for Central London Community healthcare NHS Trust, a previous Nurse Consultant and Florence Nightingale Leadership scholar. They discuss his role as a Head of Nursing and his career goals for the future. Francis was recently nominated and was a finalist for an Unsung Hero award.

Francis discusses what led him to set up the Filipino Nurses Association UK to give Filipino nurses a voice locally and nationally. He outlines the fundraising that the association has done to provide support to people who lost loved ones during the Covid-19 pandemic. He gives details of the research the association has contributed to, which hopes to determine why Filipino nurses have been disproportionately affected by Covid-19. Francis outlines the impact his Florence nightingale scholarships have had on his career and patient care.

For more information please visit: https://fnauk.org.uk/

In this episodes Laura meets with Adrian Jugdoyal who is a Director of Programmes for Mental Health at Middlesex University. They discuss why he decided to train as a nurse and his interest in both Adult and Mental health nursing. They talk about his career as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner, a Care Quality Commission Inspector, NICE Reviewer and project manager. He gives advice for anyone with an interest in Mental health and adult nursing and outlines the impact being a researcher and prescriber has had on his career. Laura and Adrian debate the impact Covid-19 has had on students studying adult nursing and the challenges they have faced as academics.

In this episode Laura speaks with Professor John Unsworth, Chair of The Queen’s Nursing Institute and Professor of Nursing at Northumbria University. John talks through his varied career, particularly his passion for Community nursing and his time as one of the first Nurse Consultants. He speaks about his role as Chair of The Queen's Nursing Institute and dispels any myths around newly qualified nurses and community nursing. He gives advice for nurses wishing to study at Masters and PhD level and outlines why he thinks it is vital for nurses to establish their 'sense of purpose' prior to applying for any jobs.

In this episode Laura speaks with Antonia Philp who is a Paediatric Transplant nurse Specialist and Co- founder of Nursem. They discuss Antonia's first job as a newly qualified nurse in Royal Manchester Children's hospital on a Medical ward and her interest in Cardiac.

They discuss Antonia's career move to Cardiothoracic Paediatric Intensive Care Unit in the Newcastle Freeman Hospital, burn out and her current role as a Sister and a Paediatric Transplant Specialist nurse.

Antonia talks about why she started the business and her role as Co- Founder of Nursem. She outlines the brands ethos and the "Nursem promise", that for every produce sold Nursem provide a nurse of midwives with a months supply of products. They have supplied over 135,000 nurses and midwives with a months worth of hand cream to date. Antonia also discusses her recent revalidation and the importance of recording your continuing professional development in order to make the process slightly easier.

In this episode Laura is joined by Emma Senyard, the Director of Education for the Royal London Hospital, former Deputy Director of Nursing substantively at Newham University Hospital who has been seconded since March 2020 to Royal London Hospital to lead on critical care expansion in response to the Covid- 19 pandemic. She has also led the wellbeing work for 1st surge in the Critical Care units and has also worked closely with an external coach from Harvard University.

Emma was previously the Associate Director of Nursing for surgery at Royal London Hospital from April 2016 to August 2019. Laura and Emma discuss her communications degree, her career to date and the challenges she has faced in the past year.

Emma gives advice for newly- qualified nurses and students on career progression and the benefit of applying and doing a rotation in different clinical areas. She outlines her career plans for the future and her goal of becoming a career/ leadership Coach with her currently studying a coaching qualification at the Institute of leadership and management.

In this episode Laura meets with Wendy Iles, an Advanced Nurse Practitioner and Clinical lead Primary Care Workforce and Training Hub (Calderdale, North Kirklees and Greater Huddersfield). They discuss her transition from working in the Emergency Department to Practice Nursing.

Wendy discusses her passion for nurses pushing boundaries and her time as a principle in a General Practice Surgery with two other Advanced Nurse Practioners.

Wendy is now a Clinical Lead for a training hub. She facilitates and supports training to the current and future primary care workforce – encouraging increasing placements of undergraduate nurses within primary care, introducing new roles into the multi-disciplinary team , encouraging retention of the current workforce and supporting primary care as a place to work.

In the second episode of series 2 Laura meets with Vikki Howarth. they discuss her career to date and her current role as Lead Nurse for Critical Care Outreach at North Middlesex Hospital.

Vikki is also the Trust Clinical Lead for Organ Donation and she outlines her passion for organ donation which began whilst working in Intensive care. She gives advice for anyone working in a leadership position and how as nurses we should not be put off by applying for roles traditional done by doctors.