Primary care nursing

Hayley Budden is the Lead General Practice Nurse at Sydenham House Medical Group, Ashford.

I qualified as a Registered Nurse in 1997 and worked as a staff nurse on a surgical ward. A change of circumstances took me on a different pathway for several years. In 2012, I started working for IC24, moving across to NHS 111.

In 2014, a chance meeting with an old colleague led me into primary care where I started back to nursing in an HCA role.

I loved being patient-facing again and my colleagues were very encouraging. The course was challenging with a young family but hard work, commitment, and support of my workplace, saw me return to the Nursing and Midwifery Register in April 2016.

I completed a six-month course while still working which included reflections, work-based competency book, essays within the requirements/guidance from NMC alongside additional hours in a primary or secondary setting with the hours being dependant on how long I'd been out of nursing. 

I had a very supportive work environment working with a nursing team who were very passionate about their roles and had high standards of patient care. I also had support from my course lecturers and my fellow RTP nurses.

I felt quite nervous as it had been a while since I'd studied or practiced as a nurse, and I'd lost my confidence. Once I was back uniform and working with a great team, my confidence gradually started returning and I realised I had a lot of skills and experience to offer my patients and colleagues.

Nursing is a very rewarding career and working in primary care is so varied. I love to support patients through preventative work, screening, managing long-term conditions and general practice nursing. The last few years of the pandemic have encouraged us to be innovative and adapt our traditional ways of working, looking at what best meets the service and the population we support. 

I have grown and developed in my role gaining knowledge and experience in all aspects of primary care. I have been in a lead nurse position for more than two years, developing my management skills and ability to manage a team. 

I love working in primary care because the role is so varied, from vaccinating babies to supporting patients in their later years, never really knowing who is coming through the door. I would recommend working in primary care. I'm proud to call myself an NHS General Practice Nurse.

Jo Stevens is a Practice Nurse at The Vine Medical Centre.

I joined practice in 2002 as a receptionist and embraced the role of supporting the clinical team and patients to access health care with compassion and empathy. 

While there, I had the opportunity to train to become the practice phlebotomist. This was an exciting opportunity as it reignited my passion for nursing and provided a solid foundation in communication, clinical skills and working in the wider clinical team.

I was always supported by a strong nursing team to develop, gain competencies and deliver excellent person-centred care. Over the coming years the role developed, and I became the practice health care assistant subsequently providing a wider range of clinical skills to the practice population. I happily and proudly performed this role until 2016 when I was supported to start my nursing degree.

The opportunity to do by nurse training provided placements in surgical wards, specialist burns units, District nursing and general medical nursing but I never lost my passion for general practice.

In October 2020 I gained my registration in nursing having received a first-class degree at university. This was a huge achievement, and I was appointed practice nurse a role I relish, champion and work tirelessly to promote. The opportunity to essentially 'learn on the job' had provided me with first-hand experience of all that is required to provide excellent care to our patients.

My journey - more than 20 years - to become a practice nurse has been fully supported by not only my practice but the local wider training team for which I will always be grateful. I now aim to give back and have trained to be a practice assessor so that I can support and train student nurses embracing their own journey towards registration.

Sharon Lee is a Registered Nurse, Queen's Nurse and specialist practitioner.

I began working in general practice in 1992 after years of working in a variety of other settings. What struck me immediately was the variety of work and all age ranges that primary care nursing covered. I found my forever home and my career just flourished. I was supported to specialise in a variety of specialisms including diabetes and tissue viability as well as achieving my specialist practitioner qualification in practice nursing.

Having completed a masters in health studies, I embarked on more senior roles but to this day I still work clinically in primary care. I can't imagine working anywhere else.

Judith is a Registered Nurse, Queen's Nurse and Clinical Lead for Kent and Medway Primary Care Training Hub.

Primary care nursing has always been my passion - I have worked in this area since 1997 - my nursing colleagues provide such an important and unique contribution in practices, making a difference every day to safe and effective patient care.

Continuity of care, the relationships with my colleagues and the patients is what inspires and motivates me. 

In 2019, I was elected to the Primary Care Network (PCN) clinical director role for Canterbury South PCN. My journey from 'just the part-time evening practice nurse' to my current role has led me on a varied and fulfilling career path.

Primary care nursing is the best place to work and I have always supported students and welcomed newly qualified nurses together with experienced nurses into my teams, to make sure we can share our knowledge and skills. 

I support any nurse, at any stage of their career, to join our nursing teams at this exciting time in primary care.