career profile - Agnes Fanning, Buckinghamshire

Why did you become a nurse?

This may sound like a cliché but I genuinely wanted to care for people and felt nursing would give me this opportunity to work with people who need care.

I believed that with the theoretical underpinning of disease processes and clinical skills I would be able to do this. I also felt that the needs of the older person were often overlooked and that nursing was a career in which I could be an advocate for these patients and genuinely make a difference to their quality of life.

How has your career developed since you started nursing?

Upon qualification, I worked in A&E and then on a medical ward. I was fortunate to have an eight-year break from nursing to look after my children and when I returned to the profession, I worked in the community as a staff nurse and then went on to do district nurse training.