Amy Collinge

A position became available to rejoin the night team as a case manager and the hours of work suited family life. This role entails me covering overnight, out-of-hours community nursing care for patients in Buckinghamshire. I am overlooking a band 5 community staff nurse and a band 3 support worker and supporting throughout the night, for support and to assist with information and triaging the calls that come through. My role aims to provide timely, clinical, practical and psychological care to patients in the community setting to help avoid any unnecessary hospital admissions. As a team, we range from giving medications to help alleviate symptoms, providing support to both patients and their families, verifying expected deaths to also relieving blocked catheters and some urgent wound care within the community to reduce pressures on out of hours. This role is another role that makes me work as an autonomous practitioner at a difficult time when services are limited - this enables me to think on my feet.

During maternity leave, I decided to take a leap in starting my own aesthetics business. However, due to personal circumstances this was difficult to uphold. I completed training in Botox and Dermal Fillers as well as training in cryolipolysis, vitamin injections and mesotherapy.

I have a huge passion for aesthetics and wish to pursue this under the guidance of others.

After being on maternity leave following the birth of my son in October 2022 - I required a job that had the hours that suited family life. I took up a position of staff nurse on the inpatient unit at Florence Nightingale Hospice. This role ensured I provided specialist palliative care to those with life-limiting illnesses or approaching end of life. I worked as part of a multi-disciplinary team providing great holistic and individualised patient care. Communication skills are key in my role at the hospice, whether this be communicating with the patient or relatives. We are also there for the whole family and not just the patient. At the hospice, it requires a huge amount of emotional stability, which is needed when working with those who are approaching end of life. We are also involved in wound care, and the treatment of these, as some of our patients are often suffering with pressure sores or fungating wounds from their disease. It requires compassion to be able to improve the quality of a patients life at such a vulnerable time.

I took this role recently as this was a different aspect to nursing that I was interested in. This role allows me to manage a team of healthcare professionals as well as being a clinical nurse specialist link for those patients within Buckinghamshire who are suffered from lung and rarer cancers ‐ this is often as a support link for them to talk to, this doesn't necessarily allow me to use the skills that I have accumulated throughout the years of nursing. The post provides clinical leadership and practice as a lung cancer nurse specialist and clinical support/practice to the rarer cancer patients which includes those with brain tumours, thyroid cancer, head and neck cancer, central nervous system cancers and sarcomas. Although this is a challenging role, I miss the work/life balance and wish to help people with clinical skills that I have gained from my advanced health assessment and advanced communication skills.

I currently cover overnight, out-of-hours community nursing care for patients in Buckinghamshire. I am overlooking a band 5 community staff nurse and a band 3 support worker and supporting throughout the night, for support and to assist with information and triaging the calls that come through. My role aims to provide timely, clinical, practical and psychological care to patients in the community setting to help avoid any unnecessary hospital admissions. As a team, we range from giving medications to help alleviate symptoms, providing support to both patients and their families, verifying expected deaths to also relieving blocked catheters and some urgent wound care within the community to reduce pressures on out of hours. This role is another role that makes me work as an autonomous practitioner at a difficult time when services are limited - this enables me to think on my feet.

My role entailed me to provide palliative and end of life care to patients who live across North Warwickshire. My role aimed to provide timely, clinical, practical and psychological care to patients in the community setting to help avoid any unnecessary hospital admissions. As a service we also aimed to help discharges from hospital for those who are wishing to be cared for and/or die at home. As a team, we range from giving medications to help alleviate symptoms, providing support to both patients and their families, verifying expected deaths in the community to reduce pressures on GPs and community teams and also provide personal care. We have a close link to GPs and SPCT to urgently get medications and/or directives into the property or to review deteriorating patients. The role makes me work as an autonomous practitioner at a difficult time - this enables me to think on my feet.
I am also responsible to be a mentor and supervisor to the clinical support workers in the team. I also complete audit regarding the service and the work that we do.

My role entailed me to provide out of hours palliative and end of life care to patients who live across South Warwickshire. My role aimed to provide timely, clinical, practical and psychological care to patients in the community setting to help avoid any unnecessary hospital admissions. As a service we also aimed to help discharges from hospital for those who are wishing to be cared for and/or die at home. As a team, we range from giving medications to help alleviate symptoms, providing support to both patients and their families, verifying expected deaths in the community to reduce pressures on out of hours and also provide personal care. We have a close link to out of hours to urgently get medications and/or directives into the property or to review deteriorating patients that cannot wait until morning for their own GP or specialist palliative care nurse. The role allowed me to work as an autonomous practitioner at a difficult time when services are limited - this enables me to think on my feet.
I was also responsible to be a mentor and supervisor to the clinical support workers in the team. I also completed the off duty and was responsible for auditing our work that we did.

As a staff nurse on an inpatient unit, I provided specialist palliative care to those with life-limiting illnesses or approaching end of life. I worked as part of a multi-disciplinary team providing great holistic and individualised patient care. Communication skills are key in my role at the hospice, whether this be communicating with the patient or relatives. We are also there for the whole family and not just the patient. At the hospice, it requires a huge amount of emotional stability, which is needed when working with those who are approaching end of life. Since being at the hospice I have broadened my knowledge and skills around palliative care. We are also involved in wound care, and the treatment of these, as some of our patients are often suffering with pressure sores or fungating wounds from their disease. It requires compassion to be able to improve the quality of a patients life at such a vulnerable time.

I worked within a multi disciplinary team of nurses, care workers, physiotherapists and OT's to provide good, holistic care by closely assessing for those who require care in their own home and implementing and evaluating this care and then referring on to social services if required. This can be as an emergency response for admission prevention or to facilitate discharged from hospital. This includes seeing palliative patients and providing equipment and signposting to relevant teams for either Physio, OT or specialist care. Closely work with GP's and DN's to provide all round holistic care for the patient. Communication is a crucial part within my role, to make sure patients are included and are aware of every aspect of their care. I often manage the caseload of patients and delegate work appropriately, and I can see priorities within this. I have shown an interest to my line manager about palliative care and I am currently the link nurse. I make sure I follow trust policies to keep a high standard of work.

My role as a Community Staff Nurse enabled me to provide important holistic care to individuals who require nursing care within their own home environment. I believe I am adaptable to be able to work in various different environments and situations. Communication is a crucial in my role, to make sure patients and relatives are in the know of every aspect of their care, but also making sure I listen to what the patient wants. The role meant that I worked on my own, making me use my intuition and help my confidence in my skills as a nurse, but I also work as a part of a multi-disciplinary team whether this be working with other community nurses, GP's, care assistants, physios etc, and communication between these is key to provide excellent care for that individual. I will always seek to ask for help if I am unsure on things. I have a keen interest in palliative care, and this job allows me to support people at this vulnerable time within the community. In my role, I can do a variety of different nursing skills daily, whether this is wound care, administration of insulin, venepuncture, pressure area checks, equipment checks; this requires me to be adaptable and ready for change.

On the inpatient unit, I provided specialist palliative care to those with life-limiting illnesses or approaching end of life. I worked as part of a multi-disciplinary team providing great holistic and individualised patient care. Communication skills are key in my role at the hospice, whether this be communicating with the patient or relatives. We are also there for the whole family and not just the patient. At the hospice, it requires a huge amount of emotional stability, which is needed when working with those who are approaching end of life. Since being at the hospice I have broadened my knowledge and skills around palliative care. We are also involved in wound care, and the treatment of these, as some of our patients are often suffering with pressure sores or fungating wounds from their disease. It requires compassion to be able to improve the quality of a patients life at such a vulnerable time.

I was a staff nurse working on a busy surgical urology ward, providing pre and post surgical care to patients. I worked within a multi-disciplinary team to give the best possible care to my patients, from doctors to dietitians to physiotherapists. It required to stay alert to observe a patient to see any deterioration and escalate when needed. Following the trusts policies and procedures to keep a safe and high standard of work.