Laura Candy

Nurse Unit Manager, Billington Centre

Prince of Wales Hospital

“We do Gastroscopy, Colonoscopy and other interesting procedures with scopes; pulling out gallstones, putting in stents, people swallowing things, bleeding from ulcers, cancers in the colon…  I’ve been in nursing for over 30 years and not a day goes by where I’m not learning something.

I start my day going to a café, sitting down with a coffee and reading the paper. It’s chill time for me. Most of the day I’m answering the phone, allocating and supporting my staff and making sure all the equipment is ready to go. We’ve all worked here for a while now, so we’ve got a team of people who know their job and it’s like a well-oiled machine. 

One of our liver transplant patients came back to see us and she looked fantastic. I really thought she was going to be one we’d lose. Her husband rang and said ‘Laura, she’s in ICU, she’s had the transplant and it’s’ working.’ I got goose bumps. We looked after her for the best part of five years, when she was getting worse with liver failure. For her to walk in with that beautiful colour, happy, it was just the biggest reward for me. This is why I do nursing - the happiness on her face and the fact that she had a second chance on life.”