Hannah Batkin first started her St Andrew's Healthcare journey as a student nurse in 2010. Having enjoyed the experience so much she returned several years after qualifying and is now working as a Clinical Liaison Nurse, which is a new role within the Community Partnerships division.

The 36-year-old has a busy life with three dogs and two kids but says her job may be demanding but it also hugely rewarding. 

She said: "As a nurse I have always wanted to make a difference in supporting and encouraging recovery and feel that by developing skills and specialisms it helps not only the team providing care, but more importantly the patients we support.

"Nursing is constantly developing and adapting to new needs and demands, and research changes can bring new opportunities. Rather than people management, I have decided to instead focus on clinical facing roles where my skills can be used to support the most important people, our service users."

Hannah started at St Andrew's in 2010 while studying at Northampton University and three years later returned as a Registered Mental Health Nurse. Then in 2019 she became a Clinical Nurse Lead on one of the secure Dementia wards.

She said: "From there I moved to work with patients in Kemsley, starting in Walton with Huntington’s Disease patients, and then to Tallis working with people with an acute brain injury.

"I have been lucky, because when I started at St Andrew’s I was already working towards my Masters, and I have been able to drive development within my own working area. After wondering where my career would progress, I was offered the opportunity to speak with our Director of Community Partnerships.

"After applying and interviewing for the role of Clinical Liaison Nurse within Community Partnerships I was offered the job, and transferred to the Veterans Complex Treatment service in December 2020. We are based at Billing Road and are fortunate in having a supportive team, which has given me the opportunity to develop my role in line with my skill set."

She now works as non-medical prescriber/advanced practitioner, with her own caseload of veterans. In addition she completes medication reviews and  advises on medication for our patients. From time to time she does overtime on the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) as the client groups there very often suffer with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD) and experience varying complexities.

Hannah said her day is now extremely varied, which makes it all the more interesting.

She said: "There's lot of calls to make usually and I am constantly checking in with patients who sit on my caseload, as well as meeting other professionals to help coordinate care and support. I have been introducing medication reviews to the people we support, and have had success in reducing night terrors and improving their overall quality of life. This enables the service users to engage better in therapies offered and allows for a better overall prognosis of psychological treatment they are receiving.

"Long term I am hoping that within the charity we can develop the nursing role to include advanced clinical practitioners who are experts in their field, not just for me but for others who wish to progress in their career. This would keep essential skills and experience within the charity and offer depth to the care we provide to our service users. From here I would like to think that there would be opportunity to train as an Approved Clinician, With nurses working alongside our doctors we can develop our scope in providing top class patient care. Our charity, I believe, has so much potential for growth and development."