Family of nurses on why nursing is a career for life

The Greeves family, who work across a variety of roles and trusts in London, have spoken to Nursing Times about what inspires them to continue nursing, the importance of camaraderie during trying times and how to attract the future generation into the profession.

“Obviously you have awful days, but I think it’s rare I go into work and someone does not make me laugh”

Beth Greeves

Their comments come ahead of International Nurses Day, which will be celebrated this Sunday, 12 May.

Antonia Greeves, led clinical nurse specialist in rheumatology at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, has been a nurse for more than  37 years.

She told Nursing Times that she felt “really proud” that two of her children had followed in her footsteps and chosen nursing as their career.

“I just feel, in all of this, it is great to have two children who do it and who are proud of what they do and are able to talk to people and help people understand what nursing is,” she said.

The fact that the Greeves family work in very different areas of nursing shows that “there is so much out there” for those curious about a career as a nurse, Antonia explained, adding that there was a need to make nursing attractive to the younger generation.

“I think that if you could get people to understand the scope and breadth of nursing, and what you can do in it and the career it can give you, it would be amazing,” she said.

Reflecting on her career, spanning almost four decades, she said the respect and bonds that can be built between fellow nurses was something that had been consistent over the years.

Antonia described how she met one of her “best friends in the world” when she first qualified and began working on a liver failure unit, someone who she still sees regularly.

“You can form a friendship that doesn’t go away,” she said.

Antonia’s daughter, Beth Greeves, a neurotrauma clinical nurse specialist working at Barts Health NHS Trust, also told Nursing Times about the lifelong friends she had made since qualifying.

She said: “One of the things that I have taken, and one of the things that has changed my life in the last four years, is the fact that I have lifelong friends from intensive care.

“And those friendships are completely different to my friends who are not nurses, because we have experienced things that people should never see, and probably will never see.”

Beth qualified as a nurse in summer 2019 and shortly after her preceptorship finished, the Covid-19 pandemic struck.

She described a fond memory during the height of the pandemic, when one of her nurse colleagues wore a wig on the ward to try and bring some laughter to staff and patients.

“It made all of us cry-laugh, and it made patients laugh,” she explained.

“And that’s the bit that people don’t talk about: obviously you have awful days, but I think it’s rare I go into work and someone does not make me laugh.”

Beth also praised the diversity of her demographic of friends in the NHS, a testament to the diversity of countries that nurses come from.

“That is something that I think is really powerful in nursing,” she explained.

“I’ve got friends now who are from the Philippines or from Greece, and I wouldn’t have had that if I hadn’t become a nurse.”

“With the future of nursing, there needs to be recognition that it is diverse and you can do so many things within it”

Anthony Greeves

This was echoed by Beth’s brother Anthony Greeves, an advanced clinical practitioner at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, who told Nursing Times that “diversity definitely gives nursing strength”.

“The relationships you build with people are one of the things that are a huge plus of being a nurse,” he added.

Anthony, who works in same day emergency care and acute medicine, described how he had “more of turbulent time” settling into nursing as a career, but that he had now found his feet.

“I’ve found a role that I really like and I have grown to love the profession, to be very defensive of it and want to progress it,” he said.

Anthony explained how pursuing advanced practice nursing enabled him to view nursing as something long-term.

“I think one of the issues we’re facing at the moment is the retention of nurses and ensuring greater career opportunities,” Anthony said.

“I know that, for myself, going on to become and advanced practitioner… is something that has definitely helped me see longevity within my career now.

“It has given me opportunities to develop myself and services and do more than I ever envisaged myself doing in the profession.”

Anthony praised how him and his family had all chosen to pursue a very different career in nursing, showing the range of opportunities available to those entering the profession.

He said: “We’re a family and are all in the same profession, but we’re all very different.

“I’m so different to Beth and I’m so different to mum.

“The profession gives a lot of opportunity.

“With the future of nursing, there needs to be recognition that it is diverse and you can do so many things within it.”