Toy snake leads to a 20-year NHS career for Dan

A childhood accident, a toy snake and a kindly medic were the inspiration behind Dan Westland’s decision to become a nurse.

Now, he’s celebrating 20 years in the NHS and is working as an acute response team clinical lead nurse at Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT).

Dan said: “When I was three-years-old I had a bad accident and severed an artery. There was a lot of pain and discomfort, but what I remember most about the incident was being looked after by a male nurse. I remember his compassion and the time he took with me, even bandaging and stitching up my toy snake. That man inspired me to follow a career in nursing.

"It makes me realise that sometimes we do things that may seem insignificant to us, but they can have such a big influence on people we support and their families.”

Dan was among 150 KCHFT colleagues celebrated at a special awards afternoon to recognise long service achievements ranging from 15 to 40 years. Together, they have clocked up more than 2,700 years of NHS service.

Each colleague had a different story to tell about what or who inspired them to join the NHS, with many reflecting on changes to services over the years and why they remain passionate about what they do.

Jane Poupart, Locality Clinical Manager, marked 40-years of service working in speech and language therapy and has seen the impact of her career come full circle.

She said: “There have been lots of children who I have loved working with, but one has stuck with me throughout the years. She was about four-years-old and came to me in a clinic one day with her mother. She went from being completely unintelligible to being able to talk and be understood in the space of about six months, which was such a relief for her family. Years later, I happened to meet the child’s mother and she told me that her daughter had gone on to pursue a career in speech and language therapy, because of the issues she had experienced. That was really lovely to hear all those years later.”

Heather Harrison, Nurse Consultant for End of Life, has worked in the NHS for more than 40 years and said that a dream opportunity supporting end of life care has put her plans of retirement on hold.

She said: “A stand out moment in my early career was after completing my nursing degree, an elderly, retired nurse who was a patient at the time asked me what I planned to do next. She said, ‘you work in the community, why aren’t you a district nurse?’ and the rest is history.

“I was going to retire in May this year and then my dream job came up as a nurse consultant in end of life care, which is why I’m still here and I love it. I’m not going anywhere soon.”

A total of 716 colleagues at KCHFT were recognised this year for milestones of five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 or 40 years’ in the NHS, with a combined service of 9,865 years.

Victoria Robinson-Collins, Chief People Officer, said: “Long service awards are just one of the ways we recognise and reward our hard-working colleagues, as part of the NHS People Promise and it was wonderful to celebrate their careers.”