“I’ve worked towards this for a long time. I feel privileged to have got this job.”

“I’ve worked towards this for a long time. I feel privileged to have got this job.”

Collette Shaw – Support worker on Medical Daycare

Collette used to work at Sheffield Children’s years ago as a medical secretary in psychology but decided that she wanted to work in a clinical role herself. After going back to college as a mature student and completing a diploma in health and social care, she then became a maternity assistant. Collette has only been with the medical daycare team for less than two months, but tells us why she has loved returning to Sheffield Children’s in her new role as a support worker.

She said: “The hospital is special because of how the staff look after the children. They’re at the heart of everything we do and the staff are so lovely.”

“The nicest thing about working on medical daycare is getting to know the families and building long term relationships. People are just starting to recognise me when they come in but some of the patients have been coming for years and know the staff really well, it’s lovely. It’s great listening to the kids and their stories, they are so brave.”

Collette is one of two support workers on medical day care. In her role she delivers cannulation for patients with long term chronic illnesses, often on IV medication. She also is responsible for providing overall support for patients and their families to make sure that things run smoothly. The department sees children from just months old to teenagers who are undergoing a variety of treatments.

Collette said: “Cannulas are the hardest part of the job. You must be confident. You have to put the children through it so that they can get better.

“There a lots of opportunities to learn new skills in medical day care. We have a very supportive manager who helps us with training and gives us time to develop.

“I’ve worked towards this for a long time. I feel privileged to have got this job.”

Although Collette has to travel a little further to work now than some of her previous jobs, she said, for her: “the job means more than the journey”.