After training to become nurses 30 years ago, Burnham-On-Sea nurse Alison Dyett and her colleague Juliet Neilson are now back working together.
The pair first met at the School of Nursing in Winchester and Basingstoke and have been reunited three decades later at at Weston Area Health NHS Trust following Alison’s recent move to Somerset.
Juliet, who is deputy director of nursing, quality and safety at Weston, suggested Alison apply for the role of team leader in the pre-op assessment unit based at Weston General Hospital.
On the day they met back in 1989, Juliet’s mother said of Alison “she looks like a nice girl, maybe you’ll be sharing a room”, following which they spent a happy three years living together while training in Winchester.
They remember many different practices of caring for patients (including hoisting patients off their beds to prevent pressure sores) and the different uniforms – capes and white hats – and they even had transport to and from their nursing accommodation.
There were 13 students within their nursing set who trained together, now cohorts of nursing are closer to 200. They both talked of their class as a little family.
Juliet remembers their friendship being so important throughout their training and beyond: “After a late shift we would talk through our experiences of the shifts, the highs and lows, and then watch the new series of Casualty on the television to see if the drama represented the reality…it did not!”
Many of their experiences have made them the resourceful, caring nurses they are today. Alison told of a weekend when Juliet had gone home for a visit and she had locked herself out of the house where they were sharing a room; “so when I spotted a passing van with a ladder on its roof, I flagged it down and asked to borrow it so I could climb up to our open window!”
While they both have many stories to tell of their time in training, the memory that made them both beam with pride was the day they received their buckles, and became fully qualified nurses – a vocation that, to this day, they are both absolutely committed to and proud to be a part of.
After qualifying, Juliet worked on a medical ward and then moved into cardiothoracic at Southampton General Hospital, caring for patients with conditions affecting the heart and lungs. She went on to become the head of patient experience and then after 22 years, she moved to the role of head of nursing for surgery at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust (UH Bristol).
Alison’s journey took a different path; she spent three years travelling and doing voluntary work, including volunteering in Calcutta – she recalls: “I remember receiving at Christmas time a lovely present from Juliet – some shower gel!”
Alison returned to Winchester and worked as a nurse in general surgery before moving to London where she spent 20 years working on surgical wards. In 2010, she became the pre-op manager at Lewisham Hospital.
Juliet made the most of having a friend living in London and whenever she had to go to a conference in the city, they would meet for a catch up on each other’s lives and reminisce about their past shared experiences.
In a side room in the pre-op department at Weston General Hospital last week, much laughter was shared throughout their chat as they celebrated 30 years of nursing and friendship. They talked about the changes and developments they have seen. Alison said: “It is amazing to think that operations which would have meant a three-day hospital stay are now day cases; there has been so much progress.”
Alison and Juliet can’t believe they have been caring for patients for 30 years. When they look back over their careers, they remember many patients who sadly passed away as well as the wonderful thank-yous from patients they cared for over the years. They both agree that when they started their training they thought they would remember every patient, but that just isn’t possible, however, Juliet was reminded eight years ago, that every patient remembers the care and kindness they receive from nurses, when she met a lady on a cruise who told her “you looked after my husband 22 years ago”.
30 years on, the two truly believe that nursing is a vocation. Their advice: “Enjoy every minute, it’s hard work, at times frustrating but so rewarding and such an honour to be part of patients’ lives, sometimes when they are at their most vulnerable, and never lose sight of the reason you became a nurse.”
