Sarah Shaldon

I have been nursing for many years, starting in 1983. After my training in Oxford, I worked in the Oxford hospitals as a staff nurse on the Nerosurgery / Neurology ward and the Respiratory Wards.

I took a year out and travelled for a year, returning to work in an Oxford Nursing home and as a research nurse at the Respiratory Unit.

My first community nurse job was in Oxford. After having my son we moved to Exeter, where I continued community nursing.

I enjoy the variety of community nursing and every week I will be in many familiar situations but also new ones. As Community nursing has taken on more complex care in the community I have continued to learn. I have seen incredible changes over my career.

My current team is with the St Thomas Practice, being a very large practice, the nursing team is the largest in Exeter and the work is varied and changes frequently.

I enjoy the team work, we work closely with the urgent response team and I feel I have developed good communication skills on line and in person with the multidisciplinary team - GPs, practice nurses, specialist nurses, carers, hospice team and therapy.

I have worked as a senior nurse in the community team, managing a team, this was a great learning experience. I now do some management - triaging , planning allocation of work and lead nurse on a shift.

I have always been interested in palliative care and have cared for many patients with terminal disease. I find this a challenging part of our role but also the most rewarding. I have been interested in communication in these difficult situations and have read and attended online webinars on this subject.

I am now at the stage of my life when I need to decrease my workload and so have been looking at different roles. I have taken my pension , continuing to work 3 days per week. Physically community nursing is hard and now I feel the need to step away from this role. Although a big change , I am ready to try something new.

• Hiking, yoga, cinema, theatre, ballet, cookery, reading, gardening, history and art.