Heartbeat: Award winning heart failure nurse retires after 38 years in the NHS

November 20, 2018

After 38 years of working in the NHS, this month saw CNS Jane Stubley make the tough decision to hang up her nurse’s tunic for retirement.

Jane started her career in 1980 at the age of 17 when she took on the challenge of becoming an ophthalmic trainee at the Birmingham Midland Eye Centre and within years her desire to care for patients saw her take on her general nursing training at Dudley Road Hospital. Keen to focus on a specialty, Jane quickly moved her focus to cardiology taking on the challenge of caring for hearts in a diverse and deprived community.

To find out more, Heartbeat caught up with Jane.

She said: “20 years ago, I felt there was a gap where patients were not able to get the cardiac rehab support they deserved to help with their recovery and this is when I began campaigning for the development of a new role which focussed on supporting heart failure patients with their recovery.

“We worked hard to secure over £2m funding from the British Heart Foundation, New Opportunities funding and the Lottery to establish our services and over the last few years, we’ve managed to develop the service from a single nurse to three acute nurses and a team of 14 community heart failure nurses delivering holistic care to a diverse community.”

Reminiscing about her career, Jane spoke fondly of her time at the Trust. She said: “I’ve loved every moment of my time here and I know I’ll miss it going forward. The job has never been a 37 hour a week role, I’ve worked 40-50 hours most weeks as well as cutting holidays short to care for patients, but to me this has been a privilege.”

Jane has seen herself at the forefront of heart failure nursing over the years, being awarded employee of the year at the Trust as well as receiving regular letters of thanks from grateful patients and families who see her not simply as a nurse, but as a close family friend caring for their loved ones.

Jane also spoke of her plans for the future. She said: “I promised my husband and my family that when I reached 55 I would retire and now is the time for me to devote my time to them.

“We have a holiday home in Borth on the west coast of Wales and we’ll be relocating there, where I’ll get to spend some more time improving my pianist skills, perfecting my baking and being more involved in the community.”