Monica Donnelly

I work at Trafford General Hospital in Ward 12 as a nursing assistant.  I’ve been working here for the last six years.  I always wear my badges to work – they say that I’m a diamond! I won the Diamond Award for NHSP (National Health Service Professionals) and a Diamond Award for looking after the environment. I’m really proud of my badges. 

It was 1998 when I first came to the UK from Jamaica. I was working with a charity over there, and they had a raffle. When they picked my number out, my prize was a trip to the UK! It was my first time travelling and I met this lady and I went to have a facial in her salon – and that’s where I met my husband. I had a facial mask on and he said ‘oh, what a lovely lady!’, and you know, the rest is history.

I had to go back to Jamaica, but guess what, he came after me, and we got married in Jamaica, got all our paperwork in order and then I migrated to England in 2008.  It was a very lucky raffle ticket!

Before I came to England, I used to look after my grandmother, and everyone always said, ‘Monica, you need to be a nurse’. So when I came and started working at the care home, and then they closed, I went to another care home. I said to them ‘I’m not really going to stay, I’m just waiting to hear from the NHS.’ And everyone was crying because – they know I love my job, and I always put my patient first.  People think I’m the manager, even though I don’t get the salary, but I make sure everyone feels at home.  Sometimes people come for surgery and a patient might get very anxious, and my manager says ‘can you follow the patient -go to surgery and calm them down.’ She says I have a knack for it.   

I say, ‘OK, my name is Monica, and I’ll be looking after you today’. Sometimes a patient might start crying.  And I say, ‘Listen, I’m here. If you need anything, squeeze my hand, I’ll be here for you.  I know you’re an independent person, but when you come into hospital, you have to give up a bit of that independence. It will only be for a couple of days.’ Afterwards, I say ‘Come on now, your surgery is done.’ And they might have surgery on their knees, or the hip – and they might be worried that they can’t turn.   And I say ‘Yes, you can turn on that hip.’ When they go home, they always write to us and say ‘Oh my God, Monica put me at ease’.  I try to be there and try and calm any situation.  Sometimes I start singing, and they say ‘oh! I didn’t know you can sing!’ I just love to sing. 

You always have to put patient care in front. We don’t do it for the money – we want the patients to come in, get the surgery and get them on the road to recovery. They know we are there for them.  Sometimes they might get upset or frustrated, but afterwards they often apologise. I say ‘Listen. There’s no problem’.  Later they ring the manager or write a letter saying thank you.  

When we ask patients what matters to them they say ‘a smiling nurse, management of pain and going home’ and that’s what we try and do at Trafford. 

Coming from the Carribbean, I think the NHS is amazing. It’s not just for the rich, it’s for everyone. If we didn’t have the NHS, I don’t know how people would manage the pain. We cannot take the NHS for granted – it does a world of good for everyone.  

My mom and dad lived in Kingston, so I lived with my grandmother.  Jamaica exports bananas to England so on a Saturday, I would carry my banana to market and then they would sell it and send it to England and I got a little pocket money. I was about ten years old then. So my work ethic has always been, you have to work for what you want . I always say ‘do not grudge a person for what they have, because you don’t know how they come by it. And I always live by that motto. If you do good, good will follow you. 

During Covid, we didn’t know what we were doing at first because it was something new, but yet we got through it. My manager asked me to go and sit with a patient, and I went and sat with that patient until he took his last breath. That’s our job.  

We had to make sure that person was comfortable at the end of their life, make everything peaceful and that they have dignity, because without dignity, there’s nothing.  

My ward became a Covid ward. And I was there 24/7, and I give thanks I did not catch Covid that whole time.  But one day I would come in and see a patient, the next day you come in and they’re not there. We had a wife and a husband and both of them died. 

But because we have the strength and we have our managers and the staff behind us, we would just rally and do our job. 

We would come in to hospital in our street clothes, then we would change into scrubs.  We had a quiet room, so when things got too hectic for us, we could go in there, sit and explain things and start again.  

When we had patients that got over Covid and got to go home, we lined up and clapped them as they left. We were so happy to see them go home. 

Listen, I’ll go on the mountain and sing for the NHS and sing for my job because I love it. 

I do feel as if I’ve processed all of it now.  We have people we can talk to, we don’t just have to bottle it up.  We just worked as a team, and if you have a good team, anything is possible.

Illustration: Ann Dinh