A retired nurse who returned to full time nursing as the NHS was hit with the COVID-19 pandemic has described why she answered the call to help.
Jeanette Polson from Wingate is an urgent care nurse practitioner at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust.
Jeanette, who is 56 and retired from full time nursing 2018, said she returned at the start of the outbreak because “I love my job and my patients”.
She said: “I could see colleagues were on their knees and I wanted to do my bit to help. We were seeing some get the virus, many others were having to isolate and others have had to shield.
“Being an urgent care nurse, we are on the front line caring for patients with a range of issues.
“I wanted to make sure all patients coming into the organisation were getting the help they needed.
“I retired at 55 but I still have so much nursing left in me. And I love my job and my patients so much.
“My manager Nicola is fantastic, as are the whole team here. I have a huge amount of loyalty to the organisation.
“Yes, the role can be stressful – quite often you are exhausted coming off a shift. Many patients coming to urgent care have been frightened. Some have even tried to avoid coming here when they needed our care because they didn’t want to be at risk. We are here for them and always will be.”
Jeanette has worked in the NHS for 40 years, starting out in a non-clinical role before training to be a nurse in 1991 and working across a range of urgent care and emergency services in Sunderland, Peterlee and Middlesbrough before coming to the trust in 2017.
