'Be kind, be curious, and be careful,' London chief nurse at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust shares her advice to new nurses as she prepares to retire after half a century of service within the NHS.
Sheila Adam, chief nurse and director of allied professionals at Moorfields, celebrates 50 extraordinary years which have taken her from one of the first nurse consultants in critical care, to supporting the NHS Nightingale hospital during Covid-19, and chief nurse at Homerton University Hospital and Moorfields Eye Hospital. She is set to retire towards the end of November.
"I wanted to be a nurse ever since I was very small. I loved the thought of being able to help people and make a difference," she said.
In 1975, Sheila undertook one of the earliest nursing degrees in England at the University of Manchester, after Jean Macfarlane was appointed the UK's first professor of nursing at the university in 1974 and established the country's first nursing degree. Sheila qualified after four years as a registered nurse, district nurse and health visitor.
Sheila, in her first year as a student nurse
Sheila's first substantive post was at the Royal Free Hospital, which would profoundly influence her career. Working on the gastrointestinal and liver ward meant she was regularly caring for acutely ill patients, something she found so rewarding she decided to pursue intensive care nursing. By the time she had moved to the now closed Middlesex Hospital, she was a senior nurse in intensive care, and where she would become one of the first nurse consultants in critical care. Sheila also rolled out the first critical care outreach service in London and co-wrote the definitive textbooks on Critical Care Nursing, which have been translated and published across the world.
After spending eight years at University College London Hospital (UCLH), where she became a deputy chief nurse, she went on to work as chief nurse at Homerton University Hospital and in 2018 started work as an improvement director at NHS England, working to support challenged trusts. There, she would be called upon to contribute to the critical care nursing response to Covid-19, and acted as a deputy chief nurse for the temporary NHS Nightingale hospital at ExCeL London. Sheila received the prestigious chief nursing officer gold medal in 2021 to recognise her exceptional contributions to nursing. Sheila then moved to Moorfields Eye Hospital in 2022 as chief nurse and director of allied professionals.
"I love the emphasis on quality and innovation at Moorfields, as well as the complexity and variation - and having a global, as well as national, presence," said Sheila.
"The nursing and allied professional teams I work with are fantastic and have enabled us to achieve so much as we move to rolling out our new electronic patient record (EPR), MoorConnect, next year and move ever closer to our new centre for advanced eye care.
"After 50 years, I see that nurses remain central to the quality of care and experience that patients receive. They are the only profession providing 24/7 consistent expert presence for patients across different care environments. There has been some expansion in the role especially around expertise and advanced practice, and there has been some erosion in the role in terms of provision of holistic care. Nurses make a huge difference to people in need, and it is little wonder that nursing is the most trusted profession in the UK."
Fittingly, Sheila will close out an inspirational nursing career at Moorfields Eye Hospital, where Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, was once a governor.
Sheila at Middlesex Hospital, with a TV that had been donated for patients
Sheila as a senior nurse in the intensive therapy unit at Middlesex Hospital
"Sheila has led a truly incredible career, one that we are honoured to mark and celebrate," said Peter Ridley, interim chief executive at Moorfields Eye Hospital. "Her knowledge and experience have been truly invaluable not only to nurses and allied professionals, but across our trust and the wider NHS. On behalf of Moorfields, I would like to thank Sheila sincerely, and wish her all the best."
Looking towards the next generation of nurses, Sheila said: "My advice for students and newly qualified nurses has always been - be kind, be curious, be careful (and follow the Nursing and Midwifery Council code!). Like other health professionals, we work in partnership with our patients but are responsible for our own decisions, actions and developing our expertise and skills. I would like to see nursing develop a more comparable career structure to other professions - allowing recognition of the exceptional work that a qualified nurse and clinical nurse experts offer in the provision of safer, proactive and person-centred care."
"I have been proud to support the broader allied professions as well as nurses at Moorfields, working with our medical colleagues to deliver what I believe is care second to none. It has been a marvellous opportunity which I will never forget. I am very much looking forward to an alternative rhythm to my days, with new opportunities and more time for my family, travelling and friends."