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My LSBU…
Kat Millward

PgDip (Primary Care – District Nursing)

My life at LSBU

I’ve been a registered nurse for 10 years now, initially working in Orthopaedics and then Intensive Care. I’ve been working as a community nurse for about four and a half years now, and have a real passion for improving primary care nursing. The DN course is a fantastic way for me to develop my skills further and undertake some extensive projects within the Trust that employs me.

There is a need to maintain life-long learning within nursing and there are so many changes happening within the NHS that sometimes it’s hard to keep up! I have always meant to undertake graduate studies, but deciding what I wished to do took a while.

I always knew that the course I wanted to do was run through LSBU. The reputation for the School of Health and Social Care has always been good, particularly for nursing courses, so once I was granted the sponsorship I knew exactly where I wanted to study!

I’ve really enjoyed studying at LSBU. The quality of the lecturers is excellent and they all maintain close links to current trends within the NHS so their information is up to date. I have a particularly high regard for the course director and head of department, who are both very inspirational and push me to achieve more.

Work/life/learning in London

I’m only on campus two days a week, as I’m out on clinical placements too. On uni days I catch the bus which I love. My route takes me through Russell Square and Holborn, and then over Waterloo Bridge. Even though I’ve been in London for almost five years I still love looking at the sights – just like a tourist! London is so busy and vibrant but has lovely calm and peaceful pockets too, and there’s such a sense of history to the city. Studying in London means that you get a huge variety of experiences, and there is world-class research and development to get involved with or to observe.

I’m sponsored by a PCT so I get paid for studying. It’s a real bonus as the course is very time intensive, and if I had to do extra work as well it would be a struggle.

I’m looking to get a post as either a community matron or a District Nurse team leader once I graduate. The course will have provided me with the clinical and management skills to do this.