A CRAWLEY nurse has spoken of the joys of her job as East Surrey Hospital looks to recruit "dozens" of local people to work alongside her.
Jane Leese, who works on the hospital's Copthorne Ward, went back to school after spending ten years as a healthcare assistant at nursing homes and Crawley Hospital.
After a three-year degree at Sussex University the now 48-year-old joined East Surrey in September 2012.
Since then she has never looked back, despite the sombre moments which come with handling life and death situations on a daily basis.
As Surrey and Sussex Healthcare (SASH) NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, looks to recruit new nurses, Jane, who lives in Broadfield, has given an insight into the profession.
She said: "It can get very busy. We deal with a lot of patients who have come from high dependency units.
"Copthorne Ward is a surgical ward and the majority of people who come in are emergencies."
Once her children had grown up Jane decided she wanted to go back to the classroom and study for a career which would allow her to look after people from her home town.
She said: "It sounds corny but it is a really rewarding job.
"There are days when you want to cry, especially if a patient passes away, but you also get to know the patients on the wards who come in for surgery, get better and go home.
"Knowing you have helped them is really satisfying. It's making sure that the patient, who is scared, is cared for and you take the time to listen to them.
"You don't need special skills, you just need to be empathetic, compassionate and caring.
"I often look at patients and think 'that could be my mum', so I treat them how I would want my mum to be treated."
Working from 7am to 7.30pm can be tiring both physically and mentally and, of course, there are times when people don't make it out of the ward.
Jane said: "That is tough. But we're a very good team on Copthorne Ward. We've got a very supportive ward manager and experienced sisters.
"We gel very well as a team, so it's hard and not something you get used to, but you just support each other and deal with it as it comes along."
SASH is holding a recruitment drive for new employees to join the trust's approximate 1,000 nurses and midwives. In the last year the trust has carried out recruitment drives in Ireland, Scotland and Portugal.
Now new nurses are being sought from the local area.
Chief nurse Fiona Allsop said: "What is really important to us is that we have staff working for us with the right values.
"We can teach people and give them the skills they need but we can't teach them how to be caring and compassionate."
The team at SASH are aware that while some potential nurses interview well, there are a number who have good clinical skills but due to inexperience and nervousness do not always demonstrate these skills in interview. As a result a range of assessments are undertaken at nurse recruitment days. To find out more about the jobs on offer visit www.surreyandsussex.nhs.uk and click on Working For Us.
![East Surrey Hospital looking to recruit dozens of new nurses]( "East Surrey Hospital looking to recruit dozens of new nurses")
