Patricia Morris

Nurse Unit Manager, Cancer Care Centre

St George Hospital

"In the Cancer Care Centre, my role as a Nurse Unit Manager is to lead, coordinate and direct nursing care for patients who present with a cancer diagnosis.

Previously, I spent a long time with a patient who had quite advanced disease and at the end of the discussion I asked if there was anything else I could help them with. They said: ‘Do you think you can help me reconnect with my mother? I haven’t spoken to her in many years.’ It was a light bulb moment for me - we spend so much time on the education and treatment aspects of care, what this particular patient really wanted to do was talk to their mother. It is crucial to maintain a multidisciplinary approach so I referred the patient to a social worker and psychologist.

There is also certainly an element of not being able to switch off and you have to become work fit. I find that for me, exercise is the best a way of doing it.”