Sarah’s story

Sarah talks about what is involved in working as a Registered Nurse at Leuchie.



What’s your nursing background?

I qualified as a nurse five years ago and at that time I chose to branch in to medicine of the elderly. This gave me experience of caring for patients with many long term conditions including advanced dementia, as well as palliative care.

Why did you choose to apply to work at Leuchie?

Despite being promoted to Senior Staff Nurse in an elderly care setting, I was becoming unsettled due to a lack of new challenges in the role. It seemed as though my patient care role was decreasing, and paperwork and audits were only increasing. So I started to look at what other roles had to offer and came across Leuchie House. I was impressed by Leuchie’s values and hands-on commitment to guests’ needs.

What does your nursing job involve at Leuchie?

I joined Leuchie’s nursing team in 2018 and now really can’t imagine being anywhere else. No two days are the same and I love that the whole Leuchie family share the same goals and aspirations.

On a day-to-day basis, we have handover from the night shift in the morning and then it is all hands on deck to ensure that guests are up, have taken their medication and are ready to make the most of their stay. Although some guests can have very high needs, Leuchie pride themselves on not promoting set routines. This really helps guests to relax, knowing that they can decide when they want to get up, or go to bed, and everything else in between.

At Leuchie we don’t associate disability with constraints and if something is possible, then we do anything we can to make it happen.

Care at Leuchie House is nurse-led. What does that mean?

Nursing-led care combines the best of nursing and holistic care, enabling us to deliver high quality care which promotes wellbeing in all aspects of a guest’s life. The nursing and care team work together to really ensure that the needs and wishes of the guests are fully taken into account to be able to improve their quality of life, both during their stay, and long after they have returned home.

How does being a nurse at Leuchie differ from working elsewhere?

To put it simply, Leuchie staff actually have the time to care. Dependency ratings of guests match staffing levels to ensure that the quality of care we offer is of a high standard and is achievable. Unfortunately, in other nursing settings, the workload can be very task orientated, which in turn demands set routines and affects standards of care.

What’s the best thing about working at Leuchie?

The best thing about working at Leuchie is without a doubt the staff and the atmosphere that they create. I especially love that no matter what role you are in, once you have your uniform on, everyone takes you under their wing and you immediately feel like part of the team.

This is something that numerous guests have picked up on. On more than one occasion guests have said to me that Leuchie is not the place, it’s the people.

I wholeheartedly agree!