Matt, here again, AKA professional blogger. I feel I have my nursing spark back!! I am going to put it down to all of the Nursing events I have been to of late and I feel energised and motivated to push on with my career, and quite possibly taking a different direction. It all started when I   took Flo on a trip to London for an overnight stay this week, it doesn’t take much to persuade my wife to have a little break away, with the promise of some sightseeing (London Eye, Tower Bridge and of course Selfridges) The main reason for our (my) trip; was so I could attend the RCN Foundation Care Home Summit . The full-day event was at the Royal College of Nursing in Marylebone, the programme consisted of some incredible speakers who gave a real insight into the issues surrounding the sector including the high rates of nursing vacancies and turnover. It was also aimed at supporting and strengthening nursing, and improving patient care. One thing that really struck a chord wi...

Hi everyone, Matt here.  I’m feeling more comfortable as a blog writer at the keyboard now, but it still feels strange to say that I have a wife, ‘wifey’, as I've been calling my darling Flo.  I’ve also got some exciting professional nursing events ahead of me, that I will tell you about in a minute.  Our wedding was the best day of my life!  My darling Flo took my breath away as she glided down the aisle. I will never forget that smile on her sweet face as she looked straight at me, with nothing but love and adoration at the altar. The highlight was the mother in law’s face when she saw the pork pie cake! Only kidding, that was just one of the many highlights.  Then again, I did have my doubts. No, I didn’t, that’s also rubbish. The only doubt I had was whether I would make it on time, as Ben aka ‘The Best Man’ decided to take me on a wild goose chase pub crawl the night before. It seemed like a good idea at the time but by about 6pm, I was ...

I am now officially Mrs Writingale-Roberts!!! What a feeling! Does that make me officially middle-aged at the age of 24, now that I’m married? Do I need to start wearing Mom jeans and driving a Nissan Micra?? If so, bring it on! I love being Matt’s official woman. He wants me – forever! It was the most fepic day ever – even with the interference of the Dragon Mother. Despite global warming and the recent flooding, the sun was shining on us. I woke up with a bit of a headache ( or a pain in the arse, as the Dragon Mother insisted on sleeping in the same bed as me the night before – I think she was frightened I’d change my mind and dump her at the altar…) The morning went swimmingly – we weren’t getting hitched til 2 o’clock so there was plenty of time to sort hair, make-up and champagne! I made Dragon Mother go first with make-up (miracles permitting) as the first slot was 7.30am and I wanted an extra snooze. It took a while, but the make-up artist was amazing and manage...

Well, what a month! I’ve finally learnt that the world doesn’t revolve around me (hard to believe folks!) and that sometimes I’ve just got to step off my own rollercoaster and step onto someone else’s… I’m loathe to say ‘Poor Matt’ because that would mean that I feel sorry for him – I don’t. I feel for him, and that’s different altogether. My big strong, gorgeous, funny, loyal Matt is having a toughtime as I’m sure you all know and I’m so relieved that he’s been able to share how he’s feeling. At first, I was a bit gutted that he’d opened up to you guys before he sat down and spilled his guts to me, but like I say…it’s not about me. I can empathise though. I know how it feels to wake up with your stomach churning and that feeling of pending doom; that feeling of complete dread that stays with you until the end of the shift when a sense of euphoria takes over, as you realise you’ve survived another day. That unreasonable, sensitive you that could burst into tears at any mom...

I’ve done it… I have finally come clean to Flo and you know what? It wasn’t as bad as I had imagined, albeit a few tears from both of us, but now my shoulders feel a lot lighter. It all came to a head when working the night shift. Things were going pretty smoothly, but it also felt like the calm before the storm. I went to check on a couple of new patients that had come in during the day, when it all went crazy (it wasn’t a full moon). Sandra, a younger woman with schizophrenia started shouting from the rooftops that her fella was trying to break in, cue her trying to escape; and so she started pushing and shoving her way through the ward, hitting the walls. This started some other patients off and you can imagine the rest. It was one of those shifts when you feel like you are in a dream and you can’t wait ‘til it’s over. I actually felt sorry for Sandra, and like her, at times I wanted to escape from it all. After going home feeling exhausted, I ended up sleeping on the couc...

 Where do I begin… I’m sat here while flo’s on night shift trying my sixth attempt at writing this, I have always wanted to work in health and social care for as long as I can remember and I have had a great career so far. I have seen some things that are indescribable and also been so elated to ultimately ‘Save a Life’ but most recently, well in fact the past sixth months, have been really hard and it’s got to the point that I have started to shut myself away from work and even flo. The days are starting to blur into one and I don’t want to get out of bed, I lie awake at 3am going over everything and I just don’t know what to do. One of my patients ‘Timmy’ who was let’s say, a bit of a ‘Gangster’ in his day has frontoemporal dementia, he’s physically still fit for his age (late 70’s). When we initially met, I knew he was going to be a challenge. If I can recall his first words were ‘Ey Up w***er’ I like to think of myself as a man’s man and so my approach was more to give ...

It’s been another plate-spinning fortnight, but guess what? Some of those plates have now been spun into their rightful place and things are looking good. My first piece of news is that I got the job!! I am now a very proud Band 6 nurse! Steve called me (eventually) to give me the news. The rumours were right, there were two posts and I got one of them! Steve told me that the other successful candidate was pretty much the opposite of me in that she was quiet, steady and sensible. If I hadn’t been so ecstatic, I might have felt a bit insulted but as it was, all I felt was complete elation. I rang Carla as soon as I got off the phone to Steve and she couldn’t do anything but scream! I honestly couldn’t have done this without the encouragement, support and belief of both Steve and Carla. My second piece of news is that the wedding plans are almost complete; everything has been ordered or arranged. Ironically, the only thing to buy now is the Dragon Mother’s outfit. As you would...