Transcript
Speaker: hello welcome back to the leveling up nursing podcast my name is harry it's been a huge huge break and to cut a long story short i'm joined by an amazing guest but So... um To cut a long story short, it's been it's been ah an amazing break. um I was doing my nursing degree and to...
Speaker: It was heating up and it I found that i needed to take some things needed to drop just so I completed my degree. I've now completed my degree and the wonderful Laura has um been Shanghai'd into being my first guest. So, Laura, if you wouldn't mind just ah introducing yourself and tell me how you got into nursing and what...
Speaker: brought you mainly onto this podcast and what you would like to talk about today. Absolutely. Well, hello, everybody, and welcome to Harry's podcast. It's such an honor. to be one of his new guests. and My name's Laura Cardy.
Speaker: I'm a registered nurse. um and now a nurse lecturer at BPP University. Before moving into education in 2022, I spent around 20 years in clinical practice, mainly in emergency care.
Speaker: critical care outreach. and ward leadership. But. I'd always wanted to be a nurse. I'm now 53, but I wanted to be a nurse from being a tiny little girl. And I'm the fourth generation in my family to be a nurse. So my great -grandmother nursed soldiers coming home from the trenches of the First World War.
Speaker: and Both my grandmother's one was a theatre sister. She was terrifying. and And Fluffy Granny, she was a district nurse. And then my aunt actually started her intensive care nurse training. the week I was born in 1973.
Speaker: And I... I told them I wanted to be a nurse and and they just looked at me as if I had two heads. and They told me I was stupid. So some people will have heard of something called Project 2000. It was a new approach to training nurses. in the 1990s and yeah they just said don't don't be stupid Being a nurse is a terrible job.
Speaker: And they they suggested that I was clever enough to go to medical school. So I went to an open day. at medical school. And... I spoke to the professor and he said, well why do you want to be a doctor? I said, well, I want to help people.
Speaker: And he just took a big deep breath and a pause. And he looked at me and smiled and said, You need to go and be a nurse then. So... I didn't know what I was gonna do.
Speaker: I was 17. um I ended up studying history. I studied Jewish history and Hebrew. I became a restaurant manager. a project manager and then finally in my 30s.
Speaker: I was able to go to college. and trying to be a nurse as a mature student. And I just love it. i think it's the best job in the world. it's a whole combination of understanding what's happening.
Speaker: clinically to somebody, it's being alongside somebody. at a frightening... a really vulnerable moment. So along with... critical care and an ED. I've also worked as a family liaison nurse. in intensive care during COVID.
Speaker: And that reinforced really how much communication and human. connection matter. So moving into education has given me another way to contribute. helping future nurses connect that science with the person in front of them. And I love it.
Speaker: That's amazing, Laura. A little bit of a disclaimer. like I know Laura. Laura has taken a few lectures of mine. And that story, I know I've heard that. i think that's probably I've heard that story so many times, but it never ceases to amaze me and how powerful that message is. So. realistically laura what brought you well i know why i brought you here tell people what what ah How you basically... Whoa.
Speaker: Out of that really important and very powerful story. what brings you here today what would you what is and how Asking together. So do you know what it is? is I remember in my 30s, that very first day.
Speaker: on a nurse or at a nursing lecture And. there We're back. several hundred hundred of us in the room. It was a huge, huge cohort. And I remember looking at the lecturer at the front of the room and just thinking, wow, when I'm a grown -up, I want to be like you. And I suddenly realised after 20 years of nursing that I probably was a grown -up. And so.
Speaker: For me, it's about being that person. that teaches. But also... Allow students to learn. So not just talking. at students or learners. It's about really empowering them. And podcasting is another great way to do it. It is. So many people.
Speaker: Yeah, so many people just... Three hours of lectures is too much. So if you can do... a quick session on a podcast. and pick something up while you're doing the school run or you're walking the dog or you are and doing the ironing. that whatever floats your boat, and cooking dinner.
Speaker: Then... It's a great way to do it. And I'm one of the careers leads. for. undergraduate nursing at BPP. Sue. Harry reached out. And Shanghai'd me, as he says. yeah um i did I did exactly that. so Really, Laura, I know you've been on a bit of an adventure recently. and That's one of the reasons, that's actually one of the things I... really wants to talk to you about. So can you tell me a little bit more about...
Speaker: What you've been doing with Convoy for Ukraine. Yeah, so a lot of people... Won't have heard of that charity. But if you sort of take your minds back to February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, and my husband and I, so I'm one of those terrible cliches of nurse meets doctor over over sick patient in resus. Long story short, we end up married. And we hosted a Ukrainian refugee family, a mom and daughter.
Speaker: And so we're really closely connected to what goes on there. And. It got to the point where... We were looking at what else can we do?
Speaker: So we joined a charity called Convoy for Ukraine, which... delivers ambulances, 4x4s, medical equipment and supplies. And we drove our own 4x4 out to Ukraine and donated it. and Very much a one -way journey for the vehicle.
Speaker: The vehicles then are taken on to... towns, cities that are constantly being bombarded and used to help evacuate civilians. 4x4s are necessary because of the quality of the roads after the drone strikes. They very much need off -road vehicles.
Speaker: And I went. as a nurse but also as the convoy medic. And before we left, the aim was just really practical. Get the vehicles, get the supplies to people who need them. and contribute my nursing skills to the convoy so that the convoy people are safe. They were about I think we took 31 vehicles.
Speaker: What stands out for me, though, are really the people. The difference between... watching. a war zone on television, reading about it in the new newspaper and the actual reality and living it. Okay.
Speaker: We spent a lot of our final night in a bomb shelter. and we crossed. back into the into Poland. at the end of the convoy with air raid sirens sounding. and But the good thing was we know we could eventually go home.
Speaker: The people we met in Ukraine. What? staying there. They were really living it. Um, and And just you know the the war in Ukraine really brought...
Speaker: home to us, you know. stories of people we know, people we cared about and joining the convoy was a practical way to continue helping. Yeah. that's That's amazing. like I'm just...
Speaker: So for those people really who've never experienced anything like this, can we can you take us to a moment where you first arrived in Ukraine? Because so for me, and for me personally, like i've very similarly to you, i'm I'm really interested in world history, and military history. I was originally going to go to university the first time. when I was sort of 18 to study history and politics. to cut a long story short I never went but but Um,
Speaker: i went and did some I think I went i went and did ah an apprenticeship in something completely different to what I'm doing now. um But... what When you first arrived in Ukraine, what did it feel like?
Speaker: And. More so, what? what sticks out to you the most was was it the sites was it sounds was the people did you find yourself in any sort of nursing or or medical situations when you found yourself there sorry if that's Like... flags up any like harsh memories, but just no um so we can... feel and experience this yeah So. All right. How do we break that down? So my nursing experience was actually needed.
Speaker: on day one in Belgium. So we hadn't even got into Ukraine. and a hotel guest had unfortunately had... and They'd imbibed too much of the local liquor and had fallen over and and smashed a glass through their hand and wrist. So. Um,
Speaker: was needing to actually get my my medical kit out very early on in the journey. and That was all sorted. That was fine. and We had somebody else on the on the convoy who had ah major abdominal problems.
Speaker: And so... Day two, I was having to map out our route to Ukraine. Knowing exactly. Witch. hospitals could provide the care he would need. if he sort of experienced any problems. So and for anyone that's traveling across Europe to and Poland, if they want to get in touch, I can tell you exactly the the big cities with decent hospitals. um but Crossing the border was...
Speaker: Fascinating. Because you are going into a war zone, it's not like crossing over you know from Dover to Calais. and They're very serious. There's no smiles.
Speaker: There's no... fluffiness as it were. Yeah. And and no no sort of, you know, little noiceties. You are crossing into a war zone. And what you're noticing is.
Speaker: the number of working male population crossing in. and the number of women and children coming out. What also was really lovely is was... you cross over from Poland into almost like no man's land. So there is a... a gap in between the borders of i'd say probably about 30 or 40 meters.
Speaker: and just feeling so vulnerable. yeah That you are in a... piece of land that doesn't belong to Poland, doesn't belong to Ukraine. Who owns it? I don't know. So there was the vulnerability there as well. But we were really lucky in that as we then crossed into Ukraine itself, we were met by...
Speaker: full combat medics. from the front line. people with security and intelligence. And so we got a secondary. intelligence briefing. Yeah. And that's when it starts to feel.
Speaker: Really real. Hmm. Once we'd sort of done that, we we then arrived in a city called Lviv, which is in the west of Ukraine, and that was where we were handing over the vehicles. for security reasons.
Speaker: And I don't know how much people are watching the news at the moment, but we were told that Kiev was going to be hit really hard. And there were going to be multiple daytime attacks. And so we we chose to stop the convoy in Lviv rather than going on to Kiev.
Speaker: And. It was going into the town. And the people were so... thankful. For just seeing somebody and and for us to say to them, we haven't forgotten you. look This is what we've brought. And we were able to show them. pictures.
Speaker: A really, really moving moment was we had a reception at Lviv. Town Hall. and a picture on the wall showed a burial ground with just three flags.
Speaker: on it a tiny little corner and then we went to that burial ground And actually. That field was full. and they'd actually separated a second field for More.
Speaker: People. um from that city. We're going to go and fight. and And you see soldiers walking around and and they're just exhausted. but trying to make the best of things.
Speaker: Yeah. It very much felt like some of those Second World War movies that you see where people are living their life as much as they possibly can because they don't know if it's going to be their last day. Mhm.
Speaker: So even in the west of Ukraine, they are... receiving casualties. It's very much like and a major incident planning. If we had one in London, say, the you know, the... yeah The London Bridge attack. Yes.
Speaker: you've got your first line receiving hospitals, then you've got your second line secondary hospitals, and then third line receiving hospitals where we're sort of discharging people. you know, that are stable enough from ITU or stable enough with their burns or their injuries to go to tertiary hospitals.
Speaker: And that's what we were seeing actually was, I think they said, Lviv Hospital itself. whilst not attacked. yet although they've already had three bombing attacks today. had received 47 ,000.
Speaker: civilian casualties. over the last three years. which is huge. That's huge, that's crazy. Mm hmm. Mm. And they're right the way on the far. west of the country. Ukraine's huge. It's absolutely enormous.
Speaker: And yeah, they're that far away. it's It's an overnight train to get right the way into Kyiv itself and then another day to get to the the frontline. So you're talking two days to get across. And they're transporting patients two days across Ukraine to to get nursing care.
Speaker: That's mad. That's crazy. That's really... it' So... What does a murder... A war zone. look like because my assumption is you would have seen or you would have participated in some sort of care when you were there where where be it you were Dropping off.
Speaker: The - uh the vehicles or you would have seen something that something you just got hands -on and straight in so how does it compare Dare I say, how does it compare to the and NHS? in in in hs um emergency department.
Speaker: Okay, so I'm going to be really clear actually that... I was the convoy medic. I wasn't actually working a frontline emergency department. shifting secret Mm hmm. From the conversations I've had, though, and the wider picture,
Speaker: one major difference. is that The conditions around care in any of the hospitals can themselves be dangerous and unpredictable. Yes. so getting Anybody.
Speaker: treatment. maintaining the supplies, keeping staff and patients safe. all becomes part of that clinical challenge. You're not just receiving. an ambulance with a patient into your A and &E department. You're not just transferring a critically unwell patient from the A and &E to CT scanning or to intensive care or to theatres.
Speaker: Because. Sometimes there's been a power cut and there's no power. So where are the generators? How are we powering the CT scanners? Sometimes they don't have the medical equipment because...
Speaker: The supplies warehouses have been bombed. And also... with the air raid alerts. They grain yellow and red. So yellow is...
Speaker: inbound drones or ballistic missiles now Um, And you then have to make that that almost like a combat decision. Am I going to stay in the hospital?
Speaker: with my patients or am I going to go to the shelter? A red alert is actually that they know the target. within a certain area. And that is even more of a difficulty. so In the NHS, we know what pressure uncertainty feels like. We know that we're going to have a seven and a half hour wait in ED. But we know if we go to the cupboard.
Speaker: the right dressing for a burn is there or if it's not we know where we can get it from But we expect our hospital to be a place of safety. And nowhere where it is.
Speaker: No. So the nursing priorities are really familiar. Assess, recognize deterioration, relieve suffering, analgesia, communicate. But the circumstances in which our nursing colleagues in Ukraine are trying to do those things are really profoundly different.
Speaker: Massively. Like... I'm actually a little bit shocked. I don't want to shock people. i felt just This is a whole new part of my nursing career that or my nursing journey. And I never thought I would. become part of.
Speaker: And yet it's now. almost written through me. Hmm. just like you know we always say and as nurses you know you cut us open it says nurse Agreed. Mine now says Ukraine as well. Yeah. No, that's actually really, ah really powerful. and I'm going to go on a little bit of a tangent now. in it's it's totally relevant It is actually completely relevant. relevant Okay. I...
Speaker: Subscribe to a gentleman on YouTube who he himself is Ukrainian. He's a Ukrainian pilot and he gives us an update on what's going on in the front lines, what's going on in Ukrainian politics, that sort of thing. I don't think he lives in Ukraine. I think he lives in Switzerland. I can't quite remember, but he he gives an update. and he is very honest with what's going on. and It's shocking. It is shocking. And I don't think a lot of people realise.
Speaker: the difference between because ukraine isn't a million miles away from the united kingdom I mean, it is far enough to say we are... relatively safe. Buddy. It is on our doorstep. And I think it's like the first war since the Second World, well, the first real invasion since the Second World War. I know there was been civil wars and things in between. I think the breakup of Yugoslavia was probably the most recent war in Europe. Mm hmm. But this is the
Speaker: the probably the most devastating war Europe has seen since the Second World War. And... I think it's really powerful, especially from a nursing point of view, because These are Because there's a lot of comparisons we can draw, like nursing is all about saving lives.
Speaker: But it is different. From... being in an emergency department here in the UK or... to to being in front line. medical nurse one of the reasons I got into nursing actually was one of my mum's friends she was a naval nurse and she did two tours or I think it was either two tours of Afghanistan or two tours of Iraq I'm pretty sure it was Afghanistan off the top of my head And she was telling me.
Speaker: some amazing stories of what she was getting up to and i always thought i was going to be an emergency nurse from those stories. I can 100 %... own up my hands now and say maybe ed is not in my future or maybe not in my destiny but definitely is intensive care because i've definitely worked in i've done a placement in intensive care i fell in love with it But... Bringing it back to levelling up nursing, and more importantly, a convoy for Ukraine.
Speaker: my My real question is... like I know you have briefly touched on it as well. is You've returned from Ukraine. You've returned from working for Convoy for Ukraine.
Speaker: Is there going to be another trip for you in the near future? Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Already planning it. Oh, no way. That's crazy. Yeah. No, I... If somebody had said to me the day after we got back,
Speaker: There's a car going tomorrow. Do you want to be in it? I'd be like, yeah, absolutely. and I think it was some one of the worries that the the bosses at the university were like, we thought you'd got it out of your system, but you haven't, have you? And I was like, no. but Once it gets under your skin, and and the interesting thing with nursing is that it goes way deeper.
Speaker: How many times are we told about Florence Nightingale? Florence Nightingale was nursing in Crimea which is Ukraine. yeah So our entire nursing body...
Speaker: has roots in Ukraine. that a lot of people probably haven't connected. So we talk about walking in Florence's footsteps. We talk about developing our leadership and management. And actually... All of our nursing still goes back to Huh.
Speaker: Notes. on nursing, which are still in publication. Yeah. So am I going back? Absolutely. What I was doing, so along with Convoy for Ukraine, they work with another partner charity called Equitas in Kiev. And.
Speaker: I've been asked already to write wound care protocols for them. um and assist with sourcing wound dressings because what's happening at the moment is that they are. Again, taking it back to Florence Nightingale, one of the biggest things that they're dealing with at the moment is norovirus because they don't have... The. fundamental.
Speaker: a Cleaning. and hygiene and precautions that we just take for granted in the UK. so wounds are getting infected.
Speaker: Unfortunately, phosphorus is being used, so we're looking at significant burns. and In order to really get my head around. what it is that... ukraine needs We need to listen to Ukrainians. So I've made connections with somebody who works at the Chamber of Commerce over there. And she is arranging for me in the spring to go back and go and talk to medical schools and nursing schools. and surgical sites and see what it is they need.
Speaker: Adai. Massive. country system wide level. Because it's all well and good saying, yeah, I can write your wound care protocol. But if you don't have the right dressings to follow that protocol, you're not going to follow it.
Speaker: At the minute, what they're doing is traumatic wounds. so traumatic amputations from explosions. In some areas of of the frontline, all they've got to dress them is betadine and gauze. They've got no non -adhesive dressings. they They don't have anything. And so when you then take it further on to.
Speaker: the charity in Kyiv, they're looking at trying to rehabilitate. these patients so looking at trying to get prosthesis for them but their wounds haven't been managed sufficiently for them to be able to engage with that process There's no pain relief.
Speaker: The wounds are so traumatic and badly And. and damaged, not through lack of care not through lack of training but through lack of equipment.
Speaker: Yeah. um And so... Yeah. The short answer is, yeah, I'm going back and I'm going back in the spring. Yeah. No, that's... Really important, actually. And it actually brings me on to... a follow -up question which i'll get to soon but what is it that we as nurses are like, so for me, I can't call myself a registered nurse yet because I'm not quite on the and NMC register, but...
Speaker: Not long now. Not long now. No, no. But I can probably get away with saying I'm qualified because I finished my degree. I'm just waiting for my final results. Uh... What? What is it that... Not just nurses or...
Speaker: nursing staff, what can We do. as a not just and Not just as a country, but what can NH... NHS Trust do you think can do to help? get this over. So what can so for me, my answer to that question, I can't believe I'm answering my own question, would be... um would be dressings like uh simple things like gauze if it's going out of date and there's a month or so left Bag it up. send it over because it's going i mean
Speaker: That would be my logic. Even out of date stuff, I know... ah Historically, we used to anything that was out out of date used to be shipped over to other countries.
Speaker: I believe I can't I believe. we still do that. I'm not entirely sure. I know my The NHS Trust I work for, I'm not going to name it because... It's odd. don't think it's completely right the nhs trust i work for still does that i believe um would that be Would that be a solution?
Speaker: So, I'm What we need first off is a plan. In the early days of the war, yes. hospitals were just bagging everything up and sending it over sending it over but what that actually caused was more of a problem than a solution because then They had to have people in warehouses sorting it and deciding where it went and who got it. And actually...
Speaker: then Those warehouses were bombed even now. supplies warehouses where we are sending things over are getting bombed. So what we need is order. We need... Don't think it's me. I think I'm going to be helping facilitate this at a...
Speaker: ambassador like Yes. A plan of... Sourcing. those out -of -date dressings now in an ideal world we love the idea of don't we of gold standard nursing in a gold standard lovely world we wouldn't be sending old stuff.
Speaker: 100 % In date. Yep. equipment. But the need is so great. But it needs to be organized. It needs to be systematic.
Speaker: so that the hospital in Donetsk that I spoke to a surgeon there, that he gets the suture kits and he gets the catheterization stuff he needs. that the rehab centre in Kiev gets the...
Speaker: wound padding and the non -adhesive dressings that they need and the analgesia. So, To give you context again, there is no analgesia. No, they can't get hold of things like um gabapentin.
Speaker: to help with these complex pain patients. So what can individual people do? They can speak to their procurement teams. They can... still have boxes, to collect.
Speaker: equipment because I do have the contacts. to be able to facilitate getting it over there. And at the minute. I have somebody that goes over every two weeks.
Speaker: Now, that ah ah that sounds you know really ungrateful. Please don't send me half a ton load of Incopads. But I can find a place for them because I think my poor husband would go absolutely bonkers. He'd be like, what is this? An Amazon box has turned up and it's the size of an elephant. But the other thing as well is.
Speaker: Do you know what? If you know a Ukrainian in your hospital, go and talk to them. Because the one message we got. is actually Being kind. and just letting them know that they're not. on their own I'm going to teach you some Ukrainians. If you said to a Ukrainian, Dobry den.
Speaker: They would be so happy. And that is just. Good day. Or... Previte. Hello. Hmm. those connections are so important. any ordinary person can fundraise fundraising is great If people want to do that.
Speaker: then I am on LinkedIn. So this is my little, i'm i'm you know. Please self -promote. No, I absolutely love people when they self -promote because it saves me doing a job. So please do. see you get So Laura Cardy, I'm on LinkedIn. and There are two Laura Cardys. There's actually two Laura Jane Cardys.
Speaker: Both of us work at the same hospital and we're both married to Johns, J -O -N. So I'm the old one. I'm the old Laura Cardy. But if any nurses have got contacts in tissue viability, wound care, procurement. education, medical supplies.
Speaker: then I'm very happy to have conversations. I can signpost people in the right direction. You don't have to travel to Ukraine to contribute. I don't think that is something I would advocate.
Speaker: But. A useful introduction or help sourcing requested items can just make a real practical difference. Yeah. That's amazing. So... How?
Speaker: After everything you've experienced because... Especially from going... from the convoy To Ukraine. to dropping off the convoy yet. How do you process what you see and experienced? when you've come home.
Speaker: and does yeah changed And has it changed everyday life in the UK for you? Yes. Yes. So when we... we always meet so the convoys the way they work is is we we go for packing days we pack our own cars because we have to obviously say to the border police you know yes i have packed this car myself And and somebody that had done it before said...
Speaker: This is going to change your life. in in so many different ways. And and she was so right. I've come home. with a much greater appreciation of what I've got.
Speaker: So one of the people we met there, they're sleeping in a corridor at night with their twins. So they've got two eight -year -old twins because it's not safe. They have to have two walls between them and any windows. And so I've come home with a much greater appreciation of. the safety.
Speaker: The choice? I have. to go outside or not. I don't waste anything I don't like waste anyway yeah But what I've realized as well is you don't waste time. So don't waste.
Speaker: Food. Don't waste water. Don't waste energy. Don't waste time. because time is really precious. If there's anything I think.
Speaker: being a nurse has taught me. It's don't waste time. Or even when even before I can... Say I was a nurse. like Even when I was a healthcare support worker and a student nurse and a nursing apprentice,
Speaker: One thing that I found is you should never waste time. like Mm -hmm. this This job has given me such a different appreciation on life and who I connect with and who I speak with and more importantly, who I spend my time with. Yes, because yes. Yeah. because it's obviously really important.
Speaker: And that's really... oh that's just hit in my opinion that's not just hit the nail on the head that's really like Pulled on my heartstrings, really, because... Like... i I still kind of see myself as a little bit naive. Like I've experienced quite a lot and being a nursing apprentice or even a nursing student and a healthcare care support worker. Hmm. It does open your eyes to a lot of...
Speaker: Really good, and I think I would say 100 % I've had more. Good experience, then. Negative. But the negative ones... I think. i i are the first ones i go to when someone says like how do you do your job and But I have to filter, almost filter through them to go.
Speaker: my job is the best in the world and it is the best in the world and I think One thing I want this tool this podcast to be is a tool for education and linking people together. And I am going to self -promote you, especially once I've finished recording and finished doing this. Obviously, I will need your permission. because I'm going to put a poster together and things like that.
Speaker: But... Yeah, and obviously I'm going to... promote you as well and The self -promotion is always is wonderful, which is what I love the most. so One of my last few questions before i i give ah you can go and enjoy the rest of your day is, what do you think people here in the UK fundamentally misunderstand about...
Speaker: what nurses do in a UK hospital. to what nurses in Ukraine have to be put up with? And is there something you... wish more people could see and understand for themselves.
Speaker: Oh, I said it. one. As soon as... As soon as I was reading it out I was like I could probably answer this as well. ah I think...
Speaker: In Ukraine, There is just... gratitude. It comes back to that not wasting anything. But they all... Great. form. if they get through the day without a drone strike they're grateful if a nurse has Time.
Speaker: to give them a drink. that they they They're grateful. fit. any hospital treatment they get. And they don't waste. those resources.
Speaker: perhaps contentious. But I think... There is a lot more that the public in the UK could do. to reduce the pressure.
Speaker: on our UK healthcare. You see it in other countries. So an example, Greece. So in some hospitals in Greece, in the islands, they don't have nursing assistants.
Speaker: When a family member is taken into hospital, it is expected that a Relative goes in and provides. The. Fundamental nursing care, so the washing, the dressing, the feeding.
Speaker: And I think... We should do that more in this country. I know sort of a lot of hospitals will have carers badges, but how often? do you actually see?
Speaker: relatives. really hands -on with the care it's very very rare and it's usually a nurse that's a relative And I would like. bring something like that in so that we have again a better use of the resources we've got to work Smarter, not harder. I mean, for for nurses listening to this, that you know you're going into the winter. My heart is with you.
Speaker: It really is. because it's going to be tough. But. If you... remember, us as Harry said, that we've got the best job in the world.
Speaker: But our resources are are stretched. and and i don't I don't know if that answered your question, actually, Harry. I think I probably went round the house with that. It's a good job of not getting more political. But yeah, I just think we...
Speaker: resources are finite and the public need to be more aware of that. and actually you know the and nhs founded was the best thing that could have happened, but...
Speaker: We've got to look after it. 100%. Now, I am going to get a little bit political, and I i i i advocate for anyone, especially any guest, to be more political because this is obviously a space where... your opinion is important. um It obviously doesn't reflect your employer, your and NHS trust or anything like that. It's completely your own opinion. And this is another tool. for us. I am going to get a little bit political now. But I think...
Speaker: ah I always tell my friends is... I wish I could take... all of you you can sit in a little corner by the nurses station and see what i do for a day or even like even just a half a shift i would love to see what you you think i do versus what i'm actually doing And...
Speaker: I would love a scheme where the public or the members of the public that Peace. that don't have family in hospitals see what we do because Having said that, I've had lots of patients recently, or I would say within the last sort of Well, we are October now, so in the last sort of...
Speaker: But in even in fact... a lot of my career, they've always said, oh, I really... misunderstood what you guys actually do for us and we're so thankful and so grateful which is so lovely to hear and it's such great feedback but I wish that sort of filtered out to... Dare I say it, the news, the news is always doom and gloom. And if I'm speaking to, if this message gets to anybody, I hope any nursing professional looks at the news and goes.
Speaker: It's not all doom and gloom. Don't get me wrong, there is lots of doom and gloom out there and the NHS is struggling. but It's... nursing staff which make the National Health Service. Obviously doctors make it as well. I'm not... taking anything away from our medical colleagues or our allied health professional colleagues they all make the national health service but what actually makes it is the patients and There is a lot patients can do to advocate, not just for themselves.
Speaker: Up for the National Health Service. by itself. Going back to to your experience. Really, you've had an amazing career and you've had an amazing...
Speaker: journey especially the convoy to ukraine journey which is originally what you brought you here What does Ukraine... I think I probably are asked this already, but just to sort of like...
Speaker: Not finalise it, but just to sort of... ah finish really the question. What do you think Ukraine needs from the UK? is that And I'm not talking about...
Speaker: In terms of... This can be anything. so What? what like people like you and me we're we're healthcare care professionals But what? What can... What does Ukraine need from the United Kingdom? That is a very political question. I know that's very political. question. But it's probably quite a good one because I was actually going to take your your political view one step further, and I think. So there are TV programs, you know, 24 hours in A and &E. They don't really reflect what we do.
Speaker: They don't show, you know... the things that we have to clear up or the conversations we have in much depth I actually would take it even further and say rather than the public needing to do that I would actually like to see senior management actually doing frotta.
Speaker: shifts. So they come down to the wards and they'll spend an hour handing out food and call it a back to the floor shift. I would like to see. Dave, remember. of the senior management of hospital trusts spending a month.
Speaker: working as a care assistant. Night shifts. day shifts everything because I think only then could they properly understand. What? would their staff do.
Speaker: I'll put that back in its box. When I minister for health. yeah When I'm Minister for Health, I'm going to bring that in. and I will never make Minister for Health. I'm i'm too renegade.
Speaker: and but So what does Ukraine need? Ukraine needs... The UK public. Two. recognize it and I like it because like you I studied history. I love world politics. And when you look back at 1936, the Spanish Civil War. Sorry nurses if you're not into history, but you have to understand. Spanish Civil War was a proxy Second World War. It was exactly the same. Science.
Speaker: and belief systems that were fighting against each other that then ended up fighting against each other. Slightly different territory. and areas. Join us. Second World War. This is what is happening in Ukraine at the minute.
Speaker: Hour. National Defence. our freedom. our safety. to go into a hospital and... Be cared for.
Speaker: with the right dressings, with the right staff. sometimes with enough time. is only there because we're being protected at the minute. So there there is. A huge...
Speaker: war going on. We are protected by 2 000 miles But... They are paying the price for our freedom. And so we should never forget that. And and again, that comes down to you if you meet a Ukrainian person.
Speaker: Seid Dobry Den. Good day. If nothing else, you might not end up with a full conversation from them. But you will make a change in that day. It's a little bit like... When you throw a pebble into a pond,
Speaker: And that ripple effect. you'll make a change to them. And they will then speak to somebody at home and say, I met somebody today who hasn't forgotten us. They will ring a friend or a colleague who may be a nurse.
Speaker: In Ukraine, say, we haven't forgotten you. And that is going to make a huge difference. That makes a massive difference. and i I have said, even from the beginning, a lot especially amongst sort of like my nursing apprentice colleagues and some of my ah health healthcare care assistant colleagues and even my nursing colleagues, I say,
Speaker: I see. Nursing is a political profession. it doesn't It shouldn't be by any stretch of the imagination. Oh. It doesn't matter who uses us. It doesn't matter what colour rosette someone wears. Nursing is a political... law is is a political profession and the effect Thanks.
Speaker: Bye. not just politicians or policy makers or anything like that have but the effects of what happens around nursing. all have an impact on patient care it has an impact on how we perform our jobs. it's such Everything...
Speaker: that affects nursing, be it the price of bread, the price of fuel. not just the cost of things but how people live their lives has an impact on nursing and i e always i have always said a nurse that doesn't have an interest in history or an interest in politics needs to start educating themselves on what is affecting what is affecting your profession because
Speaker: Yes, patient care is... obviously the day in day out washing them dressing them putting putting dressings on them, giving them medication. That is probably, I'd say, nine times out of ten what we have what we what we are dealing with.
Speaker: But it is. everything in the long term. that's affecting nursing. And you really... really hit the ne head. ah Nail on the head, sorry. So...
Speaker: My last real question before you go out and enjoy the rest of your day is if you could... I am enjoying my day. Good, good. I just didn't want to Shanghai you much longer. ah if you could sit down with anybody who listens to this be a nursing professional a medical professional be it just anybody.
Speaker: who knows very little about... What's... going on in the war in Ukraine. Or more importantly, bringing it back to nursing. Mm -hmm Very low.
Speaker: what very little people know about nursing, not just in Ukraine, but in the United Kingdom. What's the one thing you could tell or you wish you could tell someone to help them understand? Good question, wow Hi!
Speaker: wood. say to them that just as with anything. We are a resource.
Speaker: Yes. It's a calling. It's a vocation. it's a profession. but we are a finite resource. And so.
Speaker: Don't waste us. Look after us. And then we'll be there to look after them. Yep. Nice. Oh. that's actually I'm going to get a little bit emotional now. ah But that's literally...
Speaker: So true and so perfect. and Really? Yeah, do you have any closing statements really? I think that probably was my closing statement, and Harry. Yeah.
Speaker: Well... Laura. Just thank you so much for being the first guest. back from the Level Up Nursing podcast. For anyone who would like to contact Laura. I will get Laura's LinkedIn profile and things attached to the post when I finish editing and finish doing all the the necessary admin needed. But I just want to thank you, Laura, for...
Speaker: your time. I want to thank you Don't I say it? I'm going to say thank you for your nursing service. um Thank you for talking about such a really passionate and really important. subject. And...
Speaker: I would love to have you back. um But please, please, obviously... um Keep doing what you're doing. You're doing a fantastic job. And you don't need to hear that from me because... There is a little bit of bias because you are my university lecturer. but... Just keep inspiring. You are one of my personal inspirations. and from people in my own university cohort.
Speaker: Weep. Big you up all the time. As soon as your name is mentioned, we can't. thank you enough. We can't stop seeing your praises. so Thank you so much, Laura, for your time. And thank you all so much for listening to the first episode of the Level Up Nursing podcast.
Speaker: Thanks.
