A busy mum and nurse who works two jobs and changed careers to pursue her dream of working in healthcare has received the prestigious title of Queen’s Nurse for her commitment to patient care.
Jenny Dean splits her time between her main role in the Night Nursing Services team in south east Essex and a day shift for the Health Outreach team in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Both services are run by Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust.
She is one of 547 nurses across England, Wales and Northern Ireland to receive the title of Queen’s Nurse in 2024 in recognition of her commitment to ongoing learning, leadership and excellence in healthcare.
Jenny qualified as a nurse in 2009, and started her career working in the accident and emergency department at King George Hospital in Ilford.
She said: “I wanted to be a district nurse working in the community but wasn’t 100 per cent sure, so I cut my hours down in A&E and started working for the evening service in Leigh-on-Sea two nights a week.”
That led to her joining the night service permanently and caring for people with long term conditions who need urgent care at home.
This could include problems such as a blocked catheter, or treating people who are receiving palliative care and need medication for pain relief and symptom control.
“I love the night service because I am not someone who can work on a ward and have the same routines every day,” said Jenny, who drives an average of 50 to 60 miles to patients’ homes on each night shift.
“On the night service, no two nights are the same. It involves a lot of problem solving and providing care and reassurance for patients and families who can be very distressed.
“It can be harrowing, as we do work with many people who are very frail and coming to the end of their lives.”
Her day shift working for the Health Outreach team involves working with vulnerable people including those who are homeless, refugees, asylum seekers, gypsies and travellers, migrant workers, or ex-offenders.
The team ensures marginalised and vulnerable adults in Suffolk have access to health and social care services.
Jenny works in a drop-in clinic at a church hall but has also worked in diverse locations. For example, she has provided care for refugee patients in temporary hotel accommodation, and carried out vaccinations for people on cruise ships and freighter ships during the Covid pandemic.
Jenny worked in various jobs before becoming a nurse, including as a benefits fraud officer and working for a bank.
She started her training but had to stop when she was injured in a road accident.
“By the time I recovered properly, I was doing lots of agency jobs, then I was buying a house, getting married and had children.
“I couldn’t afford to stop my job to train. Then when my second child was a baby I decided I wanted to do a job that means something to me.
“When I went into nursing the second time around, I was working as a supervisor in Wickes.
“I went in my lunch break to London Southbank University to find out about nursing courses and filled in all the paperwork. They invited me for an interview the next day. They offered me a place and asked ‘can you start in two weeks?’ and I said yes.”
She juggled her job and her training with being a mum to her oldest children, who were then aged three years and six months. Her third child was born when she was a newly qualified nurse.
Jenny said: “It’s not been a straight forward journey going into nursing. That’s partly why I started doing the nights because I could work my shifts around the children and be at school events.
“I have been to pretty much everything I am supposed to be with the children and was also a parent helper at their school swimming classes.
“But I muddled along and got through.”
Her next goal is to complete her prescribing qualification, which will enable her to prescribe medication for patients.
