Spotlight on: Daniela Ayre, Palliative Care Educator
Daniela Ayre has recently joined our Palliative Care team as one of our three educators. Her role is to deliver formal and informal training to colleagues around palliative and end of life care skills.
Daniela has over 15 years’ experience in palliative care having worked in Scotland, London and Gibraltar for the last eight years. She decided to work for our hospital to be closer to her family who live in Norfolk.
“I love being here and I have joined a wonderful team at the hospital,” said Daniela.
“Part of my role is to listen to nurses and doctors who look after palliative patients and understand what they find most challenging. Alongside my colleagues, Sophie Herring and Clem Collins, we provide courses to ensure everyone knows how to meet the needs of palliative and end of life patients and their families.”
The Palliative Education team offer courses to all clinical colleagues, from newly qualified nurses to doctors as well as students. Daniela also covers a clinical role two days per week.
“For me it’s crucial to continue to have direct contact with patients and families and keep my skills up to date, that’s the best way I can then pass on my knowledge to others.
“Everyone in the hospital needs to have the confidence to deliver holistic care to patients, but also needs to know how to engage in challenging and difficult conversations that might happen with families.
“It’s all part of the experience of being a Palliative Care nurse: the more you do it the more you feel comfortable. At the beginning you’re always afraid of saying the wrong thing and that’s why training is also important.
“Equally I’m also teaching colleagues, for example nurses on the wards, how to know when they must pass on the responsibilities to senior colleagues, like doctors.
“The hospital is doing extremely well to provide person-centred and holistic care to patients. At the same time, I’ve found that colleagues know how to support each other and look after their own mental and physical wellbeing.