My Life: Janine Connor

As she lay for ten days in a hospital bed with neck injuries the nurses convinced her she should follow her dream and become a nurse.

“I never thought I was academic enough to be a nurse,” says the mum-of-one from Alwoodley.

Now Janine has been invited to speak at a Royal College of Nursing international conference on Friday about the difference between nursing in the public and private sectors.

“I’d been to their conferences before and I didn’t feel that the private sector was well represented,” she explains.

“I had spent years working in the NHS before moving to the private Spire Hospital in Leeds. I thought people might be interested in my experience, but I was quite surprised when I was chosen to speak.”

Janine says she had always wanted to be a nurse, but she hadn’t been that academic at school and didn’t think she’d be able to do it, so she got a job working as a medical secretary.

But when she had a severe accident as a pillion on a motorbike, her career path changed and the nurses convinced her to do her nurse training.

“It wasn’t that I was unhappy but they opened my eyes to something else. Looking back now, I realise that I had found my niche. I was much more comfortable and I have not looked back since then.”

Her first job was in orthopaedics and Janine knew immediately that was where she wanted to stay.

She worked her way up to ward sister in trauma at Bradford Hospital before taking the difficult decision to move into the private sector.

“The way the NHS was going meant that I was spending less and less time with patients. I was getting pressure from above to meet targets and pressure from my staff saying they were never going to be able to manage it. I didn’t want to make excuses every day.”

Janine , 47, decided to take a job as a senior staff nurse at the Spire Leeds, which actually meant taking a pay cut, but also meant that she was concentrating on patient care. After three years she is now a specialist nurse. And despite seeing some horrific injuries from biking accidents, she still loves being a biker.

“You have got to watch what other people are doing on the road. You don’t want 20 tons of metal coming down on top of you.

“I used to commute to Bradford from Leeds on my motorbike, but since starting work in Leeds I don’t use it nearly as much as I would like. I got into bikes when I was about 17 and had a boyfriend who was a biker. I loved everything about it.

“Until I had my son in 1994 I didn’t have a car and would just use my motorbike all the time. Now I am a part-time biker.” Her son Casey, 19, hasn’t inherited his mum’s love of bikes.

Janine is also a pagan which she says doesn’t put her at odds with her conventional nursing.

“I am very spiritual, in fact some people call me ‘Witchy’. I’ve done a course in Wiccan healing but 
I think it complements my job as a nurse. Paganism is tangible as is the science of medicine. I can see both sides.”

The fact she is a pagan means she is particularly looking forward to the RCN conference – which just happens to fall on Friday 
the 13th.

Revved up for change of career

Janine Connor will be speaking at the Royal College of Nursing Society of Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing International conference and exhibition.

The event entitled Developing the talents of orthopaedic and trauma nurses starts tomorrow and runs for two days. Janine’s 30-minute presentation is titled ‘Dispelling the Myths, Parting the Mists’.

The event takes place The Glasgow Marriott Hotel.

For more information visit www.rcn.org.uk/ortho2013