“I have been in the NHS for 32 years, which is when I started training to be a nurse. I am general nurse and a children’s nurse, and have spent most of my career in neonatal and children’s nursing working my way up to Matron and Head of Nursing. I joined what was Lincolnshire West CCG in November 2016, initially as the Senior Quality and Engagement Nurse, and then very soon after starting, became Deputy Chief Nurse.

I remember vividly the first teleconference we had when we had two symptomatic people in Lincolnshire that had flown in from China. We decided to swab them in their own home rather than asking them to come to hospital, and this set the Lincolnshire model for a community response swabbing team to swab people in their own homes that had returned from holiday and also people in care homes. It wasn’t long before we were so busy we didn’t have time to do our own roles, mainly after the February half term holidays when people were returning from skiing holidays in Italy. I remember the day we had our first positive test result and I couldn’t have possibly imagined then the effect Covid19 was going to have on us. We then set up the first drive in test centres and did lots of work with infection prevention and control support for care homes. In September I took over chairing a newly formed testing cell when demand for testing rocketed and needed the oversight we put in place, and I supported the introduction of the first lateral flow tests into the NHS.

In January 2021, a chance conversation with Rebecca Neno led to me being asked to become the clinical and operational lead for the mass vaccination centre at the Lincolnshire Showground. I was asked on the Monday and started on the Tuesday! I had already been involved in the recruitment and interviewing of the huge workforce we required to deliver the programme and I feel truly privileged to be involved with an amazing programme team leading on vaccinating our population. I saw us move from an empty building to a fully functioning vaccination centre and we opened for our first vaccination on the 2 February 2021. Since then we have delivered over 50,000 vaccines and I feel truly humbled to lead an amazing team of clinical and non-clinical staff that inspire me every day. It’s been incredibly hard work with very long hours but the rewards have been huge and every day I have a huge smile on my face.

I’ve enjoyed the close working with all NHS organisations and the voluntary sector. The positivity from staff and patients is unlike anything I have ever been involved in before and I find myself feeling quite emotional at regular intervals at the enormity of what we have done and continue to do. One day I will obviously go back to my normal day job, but will never forget the fabulous people I have worked with over the last 15 months who have inspired me for the rest of my career and indeed my life.”