Keira Carney has been a theatre support worker at CUH for three years. Like many of our staff, during the Covid pandemic she switched roles and took up the position of a health care assistant in the intensive care unit. This is Keira’s CUH story.
Listen to Keira's story
Link: https://youtu.be/siXq3jeq4OQ
This is the second job I’ve ever had, I started off training as a hairdresser. I knew someone who worked as a theatre support worker at CUH and she really sold the role to me. She used to tell me how great the job is. I was looking for a change and thought I’d give it a try; a vacancy came up and I went for it.
I was a bit worried about qualifications. I thought you might need A-Levels or higher qualifications, but you don’t. Any qualifications or skills that you need will be provided by the hospital if you want to progress.
I think hairdressing was great as a starting job, but then as I got older, I realised that I wanted to work at CUH, I have friends who already work here and they gave me insight and inspired me to go for it, I’m glad I made that decision.
Keira Carney
A theatre support worker collects patients and brings them to theatre, we set up the equipment and machines that will be used during an operation. We assist the scrub nurses to set up their instruments and equipment that they’ll be using to assist the surgeons. We also provide admin during the surgery, entering any details that need to be put into the computer system.
We have a check list of the equipment that we need to make sure is working. We check the stock list to make sure we have everything, and set up the computer, make sure we have the patients details on screen.
Every day is different, no two days are the same. There are challenging aspects to this job.
You see people who are in the worst condition and at their lowest point in life. In everyday jobs you don’t see that and probably don’t even think about people being that way.
I’m taking them to theatre, chatting to them and trying to reassure them about their road to recovery. I try to make them feel better about what is happening next.
That’s probably the most challenging part.
But there can be good that comes from that, if they’re patients that keep coming back to us, you get to see their progress and that’s a positive of the job.
Keira Carney
You don’t know the patients you’re going to meet, why they are there and what they’ve done in their past. I find the patients’ stories interesting.
I like to know where they’ve been in life and why they’re here. Some of the patients are recurring as well, so they might need more than one operation. I might get to see them multiple times during their stay and I think that’s really nice for them to see a familiar face and I get to see their recovery.
I’ve been here for three years and there’s been so many stories, I couldn’t pick a favourite one.
Some people are in the worst situations. I go to pick them up for surgery and have a normal conversation with them and it makes me think ‘wow am I really having a bad day when this person can be so positive’
The same applies to children, you’d expect them to be scared or worried, but they are bright and happy.
You can take a lot of inspiration from listening to the patients’ stories.
My only role at CUH up until the pandemic was a theatre support worker. But during the first wave, there was talk about supporting the wards to help prone the patients who had Covid. This is turning a patient from their back on to their front to help with their breathing.
I was redeployed to the intensive care unit (ICU) and that was scary as I didn’t know what to expect. I’d never worked with patients for longer periods of time, for longer than their surgery. Going to a ward was a little bit scary, but the staff on ICU were great.
They really helped me and did amazingly to take on so many people and teach us all. They took on all these new members of staff to come and look after patients. They were teaching us daily as well as doing their own job.
The second wave wasn’t as scary because we knew what we were coming into, the guys that taught us in the first wave really prepared us. In the second wave I felt a lot more confident, and I felt that I had more skills and knowledge.
Keira Carney
Because of this experience I feel more confident trying new roles within the hospital.
After a while you become comfortable in your job, without that push I probably wouldn’t have gone anywhere else for a while, that experience showed me that I can learn quickly.
Learning new skills gave me more confidence to move anywhere. And if I can do that in a pandemic and learn new things, I can do anything.
I think being a theatre support worker is a very good stepping stone for career progression.
A lot of people use it to get into healthcare and gain experience with patients and day to day theatre work.
There is a lot of progression available. You can become an operating department practitioner (ODP) - they assist the anaesthetist during operations. Another option is the nursing associate role which can take you halfway to becoming a nurse with the chance to top up your skills and become a nurse later on.
There’s a lot of options and they’re made very clear and encouraged.
If Keira’s CUH story has inspired you to join us at team CUH or you feel like a theatre support worker is the role for you, check out the CUH careers website.