The Raven Nurse

For a little while, I issued fortnightly free posts that dived into health matters. I took a critical and ethical stance on all that is patient care and treatment. A scientist at heart, I started my working life in electromagnetism engineering research.

Sixteen years ago I retrained as a nurse, and kept my passion for research. But, safeguarding patients and the public is my first concern.

‘To the Raven Nurse’ was how Christopher Robbins, author of ‘The Ravens’, referred to me in his autographed dedication on the book he gave me. He has showed to me how strong a therapeutic relationship can become. In the space of several weeks in the last phases of his terminal illness, Chris would frequently ask for my opinion whenever changes in treatment were offered to him by his consultants. Despite a busy oncology ward, I found space for our involved chats. I think about him often, as I do for the hundreds of people I have supported towards their death.

Now, even if I am active on the English nursing register, I have taken a long pause from practice to work full time on repairing my sailboat. The old posts are kept here for anyone to read. No new posts will be forthcoming for a while.