Rebecca Barton

Moving from nursing in a clinical environment into academia was an interesting journey and one fueled by enthusiasm for promoting a high standard of holistic care provision to our patient population. I have a specialist interest in complex care, tissue viability, palliative and end of life care which stems from my career journey.

I completed out my nurse training at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge in 1996 and worked for three years in acute hospital trusts in Cambridge, Warrington, and Scarborough in a variety of areas including acute medicine for the elderly, acute stroke unit, out-patients whilst also having a bank contact with a hospice. In 2001 my clinical career moved into the primary care setting, working initially as a community staff nurse. It was here that I found my nursing niche and passion.

I grasped opportunities to develop and enhance my professional self through internal and external training opportunities completing stand-alone modules in tissue viability, leadership, physical assessment before commencing my Specialist Practice Degree in District Nursing. This qualification allowed me to lead and manage a clinical caseload of patients before taking a greater management role leading 3 interdisciplinary teams in Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin.

Having completed additional training and achieving qualifications in independent and supplementary prescribing (V300) and clinical practice teaching my career moved to supporting, mentoring, and assessing district nursing students in clinical practice before working as a Community Matron – leading and managing the care of patients with complex long term health conditions.

My clinical nursing career has been a privilege whilst also being rewarding and challenging. The diversity and breadth of experience enables me to provide our nursing students with “real-life” examples of holistic care adding depth to learning opportunities.