‘The broader your experience, the better you become’

Director of health and well-being at the Royal Hospital Chelsea Deborah Sturdy on why older people’s nurses should challenge the status quo.

Picture: Charles Milligan

What is your job?

I have recently taken up a new and exciting role as director of health and well-being at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. I will lead the social care and health team, including the nursing team, who care for the 320 pensioners living at the hospital.

How did you become an older people’s nurse?

I always wanted to work with older people. As a nursing student on my second clinical placement, I witnessed care that was so dehumanising I thought I would leave the profession. I was given the option to go or stay and do something about it so I decided I would focus on changing what I thought was unacceptable.