Nurses

Newly-qualified nurse Victoria, who is in her first year of working at Daisy Hill Hospital, looks after patients who have suffered a stroke. Victoria reflects on what inspired her to become a nurse – looking after her granny who got diagnosed with dementia at an early stage of
her life.

At the Ulster Hospital Emergency Department, we meet Simon, an Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP), who has been working for the NHS for over 23 years. Due to the lack of beds, a patient has to wait in
an ambulance for two hours before being admitted. Simon tells us about the pressures on waiting times and space that all hospital emergency departments are facing across Northern Ireland.

At Craigavon Area Hospital, the unpredictability of the psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) is keeping Conor and his colleagues on their toes. The alarm goes off in the secure unit, and all staff run to see
what's going on. Luckily, on this occasion, it was a false alarm, but other days can bring extreme challenges in a PICU environment.

In the neonatal unit at Altnagelvin Area Hospital in Londonderry, Angela is looking after some of the sickest patients in hospital. One baby arrived early, and the mother shares her experience of being in a neonatal unit.

In the Macmillan Unit at the Ulster Hospital, Lisa is seeing a patient who was diagnosed with leukaemia a couple of years ago. Working as a Teenage and Young Adult clinical nurse specialist, Lisa is there to support young patients with their cancer diagnosis and treatments.

At Magilligan Prison near Limavady, Mental Health team lead Emma gets a call about a patient who has taken a few steps back with their mental health.

In Altnagelvin Area Hospital, international nurse coordinator Jonah is welcoming three new nurses who have just arrived in Derry from Zimbabwe. Jonah reflects on when she first came to Northern Ireland 21 years ago and talks about how valuable international nurses are to the workforce in the UK.

At Craigavon Area Hospital, a standby is coming into the emergency department – this patient is struggling with their breathing. Advanced clinical practitioner Bernice talks about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted hospitals over the last couple of years.

At the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, Linda has had a call that the NISTAR team need to pick up a young patient from Daisy Hill Hospital and bring him to the Royal for a surgical opinion. Linda reflects on her nursing career thus far and talks about the humanitarian work she undertook abroad and how it makes her appreciate what we have in our National Health Service.

In Antrim, District Nurse Maria has gathered her team for a daily safety briefing ahead of a day of home visits. Visiting patients in and around the Antrim and Ballymena area, Maria reflects on her passion for working as part of the community and building good patient-nurse relationships.

In Omagh, Oonagh and Barry in the Rapid Response Team are providing care close to home and want to keep patients from being admitted into hospital. A patient comes into the clinic to get a procedure that helps with his condition where his body builds up too much iron. Later, another patient comes into the hospital for his weekly immunoglobulins and Oonagh and Barry make a big reveal.

Linda has arrived at Daisy Hill Hospital to pick up her patient and to take him to the Royal. After a surgical opinion, the patient heads back to Newry. In Antrim, Maria is seeing a cancer patient at his home and reflects on how important it is to look at the patient holistically, as well as medically.

Today Barry is going for an eye operation which will hopefully restore his vision in his right eye. Barry explains how being a nurse, you're looking after patients every day, but you also have to look after your own health and wellbeing.