Choosing nursing as a career offers a world of opportunities and experiences that many people wouldn’t associate with the profession. That is the message from Sefton health commissioners ahead of International Nurses’ Day 2018 which celebrates the work of nurses in dedicating themselves to caring for others.



NHS South Sefton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and NHS Southport and Formby CCG are marking International Nurses’ Day 2018 by highlighting the work of their quality team which is led by the CCGs chief nurse, Debbie Fagan. The quality team is made up of qualified nurses who have since moved into commissioning and together they are responsible for ensuring that health services in Sefton are safe for the people who use them.

A relatively new member of the team is Karen Garside, who is the CCGs designated nurse for safeguarding children. Speaking about Nurses’ Day 2018, and the experiences she has had in her career, Karen said: “I’ve been a nurse for over 27 years and I really value the fact that my work makes a difference to young people all over Sefton.

“I’ve done a variety of different roles including working in a hospital, working as a health visitor and then with children, young people and their families. It was when I was a health visitor that I realised how I could make a difference for children who were at risk of harm or abuse. I worked in a mixture of deprived and affluent areas and safeguarding was a key part of this work, supporting families and working with partners to ensure children and young people were safe from harm, including physical, sexual, emotional harm and neglect.

“Although I no longer have direct contact with children and young people at an operational level, I enjoy the fact that I can still make a difference through working at a strategic level in partnership with different agencies to ensure we have the overarching systems and processes in place continue to meet their needs and ensure they are protected from harm.

“My workload is very varied and can include supporting a serious case review, checking the quality of a local health service and developing policies to tackle issues such as child exploitation. In between formal meetings, advice and support may also be required for individual cases, therefore it is very unpredictable.”

The theme of Nurses’ Day 2018 is #ThisNurse. You can find out more about Nurses’ Day, including information about the range of career options for qualified nurses, by visiting the Royal College of Nursing website: https://www.rcn.org.uk/nurses-day

You can watch an interview with Karen talking about her job here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XibIyJMT7mM