Meet our… Alexandra Richards
Tell us a bit about yourself and what inspired you to take on nursing as a career.
I’m Alex, Advanced Nurse Practitioner and Nurse Manager for Winscombe and Banwell Family Practice. I have two boys aged 20 and 17 and re-married in 2017 and became a step–mum to four girls! Our house is a very busy home with never a dull moment! But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
My career is my passion. Being able to meet people of all ages and from all walks of life and see them through their personal journeys is so rewarding.
Since my early twenties, I have always worked in areas of healthcare but I swayed away from nursing until I became a secretary to a district nursing and health visiting team in a GP practice. From that point on I was hooked due in no small part to the passion and commitment of my line manager, she was inspirational. I started as an HCA and then my workplace supported me to train as a nurse. At the age of 30, I was qualified and working back in general practice, as this was and still is the area I was passionate about. Every day I try to learn or improve my clinical or management practice in some way. I am always looking at new ways to develop my skills and further my career.
If you could be remembered for one thing at Winscombe and Banwell, what would you like it to be and why?
I’d like to be remembered for my sense of humour and fun but also for my passion for general practice, nursing and patient care. I look forward to seeing my team every day, I see them probably more than my family! As a practice we are so supportive of each other, everyone’s voice is heard and the best thing is that we always have at least one moment in the day where we end up laughing, this is the best medicine of all!
If you could look into the future, how would you predict the future of nursing in say … 2040?
Nursing has changed so much over the years, no longer do we mop doctors brows and hand them a swab. We plan, treat, diagnose and manage our patients. New roles are being developed all the time within nursing and in the future, I would love to see more and more nurses develop into advanced practice and maybe even run their own practices!
So all the nurse leads meet virtually once a week. What value are these meetings to you and your nursing lead colleagues?
Covid-19 had changed the way we are currently practising. One of these changes was weekly Pier Health Leads meetings. We meet every Thursday on Zoom. This has proved to be a valuable support network for each other. We pool learning and work practice information and as a result, we have gathered a wealth of knowledge that will improve our nursing service across the group.
Please complete the following…
- My favourite time of the day is… First thing, everything is quiet and calm, so I can prepare for the day ahead!
- I hate to admit it but my phone is… Loved and necessary
- Zoom meetings, Teams meetings, or Face-to-Face? Love face to face, like Zoom, hate Teams!!
- My role models are… I have many but the most important to me are my mum, aunt, uncle and grandmother. They were all fantastic nurses, midwives and professors of nursing and showed me what could be achieved in the clinical world.
- The best part of my job is… my team, they are fantastic.
- The worst part of my job is… breaking bad news. This makes me sad but also privileged to be part of their journey and to support them as much as possible at their time of need.
