Two years ago, Debi Evans, herself an old-school 1970s retired NHS Ward Sister, received an email out of the blue from Jane Dean, offering to send Debi a copy of her book called Healing the Sick. It is a must-read for recently trained or future nurses. It shows how, over the decades, nurse training has unrecognisably changed, perhaps not always for the best and in the patients’ best interests.
Jane trained as a State Registered Nurse in the 1960s when nursing was a vocation, an honour, and a dream for many. She went on to become a State Certified Midwife, and later retrained as a Naturopath.
In this exclusive interview, Jane tells us how she started on her journey of realising her dream to help ‘heal the sick’. Her inspiration was a remarkable three-year-old called Andrew Waddington who had been left with a catastrophic brain injury because of medical negligence following minor surgery which went tragically wrong and starved his brain of oxygen for eight minutes. Her encounter with him led her on a voyage of discovery into the countless medical benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
With very limited knowledge and only a handful of hyperbaric oxygen therapy units in the UK, she decided to open her own unit, and then her remarkable, arduous, and determined journey began.
Today, her unit is a purpose-built facility in Middleton, Lancashire, and her organisation A Breath for Life is a registered charity. Who can benefit? What benefits can patients expect? What diseases and conditions will it help? Jane and her team of trustees give freely of their time and never claim expenses, but donate especially in times of crisis. The charity is proud to be able to offer their services for a modest donation, and nobody is turned away. It is a remarkable story, and Jane is a remarkable woman.
And what of nursing in 2024? How have things changed over the decades, and with what consequences? Have the words ‘care’ and ‘nurse’ been separated? What do the public expect from a nurse today? How can retired nurses support present and future nurses? Nurses’ hands hold hands, not iPads. Should we abandon the machines, medical devices, and technology and bring back one-on-one human contact, uniforms, and tender loving care? Should we be observing patients, not screens? Is it time to go back to basics?
We give grateful thanks to Stephanie Sinclaire, UK Column’s Producer, who facilitated this interview.