Nicola Gibbs

Employer: St Margaret’s Somerset Hospice
Qualifications: RN

About six months ago I moved jobs from the orthopaedic ward where I’d worked for nine years to a nearby hospice. I still loved the work I’d been doing but felt that it was time for a change. The hospice is a registered charity and provides services to the local primary care trust.

My role involves treating patients who have come to the hospice either to control their pain or nausea, or because their carers need a break. Other patients come in after being newly diagnosed, or when they’re near death.

A very quiet and calm environment

One of the best things about working here is the ratio of nurses to patients. When I worked in a hospital I always felt stretched and by the end of each shift I knew there were 101 things I hadn’t managed to get around to. In contrast, the hospice is a 16-bedded unit with roughly 50 staff.

It’s a very quiet and calm environment; there’s no ‘rush, rush’ like in a hospital and we have enough people to deal with semiemergencies such as when people start to bleed or vomit.

Doing your best

Sometimes the hospice is mainly full of respite patients who need dressings or medication but at other times we may have a ward full of people nearing the end of their lives. At such times it’s good to know that you’ve done the best for a person and that they’ve had a comfortable and peaceful death.

The staff are very supportive of each other and also provide support to families and carers. We try and keep quite a light atmosphere and patients often say that it’s lovely to hear laughter.