To celebrate international nurses day we spoke to Jorge, Senior Sister/ In-charge Nurse in L5 Haematology ward at CUH, to hear his story at CUH.
Tell us a bit about your CUH journey – your background, when did you join, what positions have you held here?
My background is in adult nursing, I completed my degree in Spain back in 2016 and then started to work as an A&E nurse temporarily right after graduating.
I fell in love with my “soon to be wife” in 2018 so I decided to move to the UK permanently to start our life together and also to fulfil my dream of working as a staff nurse in a Haematology ward and build my nursing career within this speciality.
I have always been passionate about Haematology care as I find this area of work very fulfilling and rewarding. I carry so many experiences and positive patient feedback on my back since I started my career and my aim is to keep working to make the difference for the patients I look after. My first steps as a staff nurse within Haematology were in C10 ward at CUH, where I gained new skills and learned so much thanks to my supportive manager and the lovely colleagues I had through those years.
After a few years as a staff nurse I had to move to London temporarily to continue working within my speciality as a junior sister, and still, today I can say that thanks to this experience I was able to learn more about management and leadership, innovative Car T cell and bone marrow transplant treatments used in the specialised ward I was working at that moment while I gained valuable experience with various patients and colleagues from different backgrounds.
After this short period of time outside of Cambridge, I decided to apply for a job at CUH again this year, as I missed the Trust and my colleagues greatly, and this time, I came back as a senior nurse in the role I have nowadays. In January 2022 I rejoined CUH as a Senior Sister in L5 Haematology ward, and I couldn’t be more proud of our achievements at the ward since then.
I am proud to say that I work in a service that cares for the patients putting them in the centre of our care and aiming to support them holistically while they are staying with us.
What’s the best thing about working at CUH?
I will always be grateful for the job opportunities I have found at CUH, thanks to this Trust I was able to come to the UK to start my career, I have been given opportunities to develop and grow my skills within my speciality and I keep motivated to keep learning new skills every day alongside a wonderful bunch of colleagues and my wonderful team at the ward.
Even though we have all noticed an increased pressure in our daily job duties due to the increased staffing sickness and turnover since the pandemic, the staff that keeps working in CUH are supportive and welcoming to juniors and newly recruited staff. Within our Cancer Division, the teams I have met have always demonstrated their cooperative working values and excellent skills. There is recognition of what you contribute to the Trust which I find motivating and exciting as you can keep planning new projects for improving our services in the years to come.
What are you most proud of?
The teamwork within Haematology and how we all stand for our patients to improve their care and make their stay with us as comfortable as possible is one of our greatest achievements.
I am proud to say that I work in a service that cares for the patients putting them in the centre of our care and aiming to support them holistically while they are staying with us.
Our aim is for patients to feel “at home” as much as possible while we provide compassionate and excellent care on a daily basis. I am very proud of our service at CUH and I will make sure I keep working to improve it for what is to come with the new hospital and the challenges we will face in the near future.