We are UHB: Christine Terry, Staff Nurse, UHB+

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust runs Good Hope, Heartlands, Queen Elizabeth and Solihull hospitals.

I first qualified as a nurse in 1986, after completing my nursing training at the East Berkshire School of Nursing. I then went on to do orthopaedic training in Ascot, and in 1989, I joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a nursing officer. During this period, I was based around English military hospitals that received the casualties of war. After five years of service, I moved back into the NHS, and have since worked at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Warwick Hospital, and more recently UHB. My career seems to have come round in a full circle, and I’ve now ended up working with military people again, which is really lovely.

My career at UHB began at Selly Oak Hospital in 2006, where I started work as a staff nurse for UHB+. In the last 18 years at UHB, I have also worked as a manual handling trainer at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, teaching hospital staff how to lift patients and objects safely, and as a specialist advisor for the Care Quality Commission, alongside my bank work. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I worked as a COVID-19 vaccinator and have been involved in the UHB programme since the very beginning.?Over the last year, I have worked in mass vaccination centres such as Millennium Point and Aston Villa Football Club, and on mobile vaccination vans, in locations such Birmingham New Street train station.

My passion for anatomy and physiology, and fascination with how the human body works, was what inspired me to get into nursing. I think we only realise how amazing our bodies are when something goes wrong. My favourite thing about the profession is being able to help someone who needs assistance with the small things like having a wash, and hearing the patient say ‘thank you nurse, that feels so much better’. I know it’s so basic, but the little things make such a difference. My role as a bank nurse has meant that I have had the opportunity to work with many different people on lots of different wards across the hospital, developing my knowledge in a range of specialities. You do need to be prepared to work on absolutely any ward and you are learning all the time.

One of the biggest highlights of my time at UHB was moving into the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham after months and months of watching it being built. I was on duty on the day and was involved in bringing the patients over from Selly Oak Hospital; it was just so exciting. The advancements in healthcare facilities over the years have just been mind-blowing and made such a difference to patient care. When I first started my training, if someone needed a CT scan, you had to go on an ambulance, with the patient, to one of the few locations in the country that had a scanner.??

Another huge highlight of my time at UHB, was being a big part of getting the LGBTQ+ network up and running; I felt so proud to walk alongside the NHS float, representing UHB at Birmingham Pride in 2019.?

Over the last year I’ve discovered that nursing doesn’t have to be on a hospital ward! I’ve absolutely loved being a COVID-19 vaccinator. I felt proud going home at the end of a busy shift and then looking on the news and seeing how many people had been vaccinated and knowing that I’d been a part of that. I will never forget my very first shift vaccinating at Millennium Point in January 2021. I just walked into this massive building, absolutely full of vaccination lanes. People were queueing for over an hour to get their jabs and many hadn’t been outside their homes for months due to lockdown. The buzz, the excitement, and just being part of the ground-breaking enterprise, was amazing!

I feel very honoured and happy to receive the long service award for 25 years of service. Although I am retiring next month, I am planning to return to the Trust as a part-time bank nurse/vaccinator. I can’t see myself completely leaving nursing; I love it, I really do. I also plan to do some voluntary work and spend some more time pursuing my hobbies. I really like doing art, specifically painting, and I am currently learning German. Another goal of mine is to visit all of the cathedrals in Britain, by train; I’ve ticked 16 off the list so far!

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