Katie trained as a nurse in 1982 at Southampton General Hospital in Hampshire. Her nursing career expands over three decades; indeed, she has committed her whole working life to Nursing. As a newly qualified RGN she worked and developed her skills on a busy Chest medicine ward. This was an acute ward working with patients experiencing myocardial infarction, complex cardiac and lung conditions. Katie’s surgical experience came later on Cheselden Ward at the Royal United Hospital Bath, caring for patients with urological conditions, bladder cancers, kidney and prostate cancers. She gained valuable experience in administrating Intravesical mitomycin chemotherapy to patients. She was quickly promoted to Junior Ward sister and was nominated by student nurses for the Nursing Times mentorship award.Katie had a light bulb moment and considered a career in either midwifery or specialist palliative care. Both these roles involve caring and supporting patients through transition. Transition to life and transition to death, Katie chose the specialist palliative care route and has not looked back.Katie lead a team of 36 staff on a specialist palliative care inpatient unit within one of the UK’s largest Hospices’. She was known as a change maker, a vibrant and energetic leader who was well respected within her workplace. She was someone who made a difference to the patients and their families and to the staff within her team. Katie has now retired from this role in April 2023. Katie is a founder of COMPASS-Ghana and is now using her knowledge, skills and experience to help develop palliative care and end of life care in Ghana , west Africa Katie’s three children live around the globe in London, Madrid and New York City. This provides the perfect excuse for holidaying. A recent convert to the game of golf Katie is discovering that it requires an amazing amount of skill simply to put a ball in a small hole!

As a Junior Ward Sister working on a busy specialist Urology department, Cheselden Ward at the Royal United Hospital, Bath. Mostly responsible for the care of patients with urological cancers and other urological conditions. This involved working closely with the palliative care team and the Macmillan nurse specialist.Lead mentor for student nurses from University West of England, I was nominated for the Nursing Times mentorship awards.Whilst on Cheselden Ward we introduced the Productive Ward project enabling the team to work in a more efficient way. As a result of this work changes were introduced , processes streamlined that enhanced the efficiency of the ward.

RGN caring for patients with chest conditions on a busy chest medical ward - 26 beds - receiving patients directly from the emergency department. Patient profile included - myocardial infarction, myocardial arrhythmias, lung cancer and other lung conditions.I worked on this ward as a newly qualified RN and was quickly promoted within twelve months to the role of senior RN.