Admiration for caring colleagues

When Jacintha Crudden began her nursing career 27 years ago at the Silverlands Nurse-Training Education Centre – part of St. Peter’s Hospital, Chertsey,  -  she had no idea that she would find fulfilment in specialising in the care of the dying and supporting their loved ones.  As an Ashford and St, Peter’s Hospitals NHS Trust Macmillan nurse Jacintha will be familiar to many families in the area but is now leaving to take up a new job in London.

After qualifying as a State Enrolled Nurse in 1982 she worked on the 24-bed gynaecological Elliott Ward where many of the patients were either ill with cancer or had experienced loss having had miscarriages.

Said Jacintha: “It was through the care and compassion shown to both patient and families on the ward that I first developed an interest in palliative care. Whist on the ward I spent a short period of secondment to Sam Beare Hospice in WeybridgeHospital. This was one of the first Palliative Care Units to be developed within an NHS community Hospital.”

She set out to gain more clinical experience and professional qualifications in the field of palliative care and worked in both hospices and specialist palliative care units in other parts of the country before moving to the Royal Marsden Hospital inLondon to undertake oncology training.  She continued with her work and her studies before becoming one of the first nurses with palliative care training to be appointed to the Princess Alice Hospice, Esher when it opened in 1985.  

Broadening her experience, Jacintha then worked as a ward Sister at St. Ann’s Hospice, Manchester before returning to St. Peter’s Hospital in 1995 to work as a Macmillan Nurse with Ann Elton who was the first Macmillan Nurse at St. Peter’s in the early 1980s. Jacintha and Ann were one of the first Macmillan teams to see non-cancer patients which included cardiac disease, end-stage respiratory disease and Parkinson’s disease.

Said Jacintha: “Through out my 12 years as a Macmillan Nurse I have seen many changes within the Trust. My role as part the Palliative Care Team was to work with all services in streamlining care for patients with progressive diseases. Initially care focused around caring for the dying patient and their family in the hospital setting - now the emphasis has changed to patient and family choice and facilitating discharge of patients to die at home. 

“The Department of Health initiatives have highlighted the needs to have systems in place for End of Life care, centring aroundthe care pathway for the dying and their family, dignity, and the preferred place of care. These initiatives have been developed in the Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospitals Trust through staff education and in formulating close links with the PCT and hospices, which has influenced care in a positive way.”

Her new role is as Bereavement Lead at University College London Hospital and her remit is to develop and implement a strategy for the provision and delivery of excellence in bereavement care services through out that Trust.

Said Jacintha: “I am aware I shall be meeting new people and new challenges and I very much hope that my experiences at St Peter’s Hospital will stand me in good stead.

“I thank the staff for all their support and help over the years and would like to pay tribute to the staff on the “Ground Floor”, whoare doing a terrific job, working very hard and giving a good standard of patient care, and I acknowledge this with admiration.  It has been a privilege working with each and every one of them and I feel enriched for having had the opportunity and will remember them all with great affection.”