“It’s good to be home.”

When Alex Lane made the decision to become a fully-qualified nurse, he thought he wanted to work in acute trauma, accident and emergency or major surgery. But when the time came to choose his next step there was only one place for him, and it was all about coming home to community.

Alex, 45, was working as a healthcare assistant for Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT) in 2019 when he made the decision to head back to university and pursue his dream of a nursing degree.

“I enrolled at the University of East London,” said Alex, who lives in Lympne, “I stayed with my mum while I was studying to make it all work financially. When I was on placement I had to get up at 4.30am so I could walk my dog, Harley and then get the train to London. Mum would sometimes get up and take me to the station in Folkestone, it was tough!”

But Alex wasn’t prepared for just how tough it was going to get when, in March 2020, Covid-19 hit the UK. He said: “During the winter of 2020 I was on placement in A&E at Whipps Cross hospital in London, so I saw pretty much everything. One lady sticks in my mind, she was given just 24 hours to live and her family, including her elderly mum, came to say goodbye. I had to help her mum out of her wheelchair so she could embrace her daughter one last time. Luckily, she survived.

“I also remember a lady in the specialist palliative unit at Whipps Cross. She was having a hard time processing what she was going through and used to stare at the TV and do nothing. There was a night shift I was on and I noticed she was trying to play a game of cards. I sat down and asked her what she was trying to play. She said: ‘You young-uns don’t know how to play crib.’ I just laughed and said I did, so we had a game and you could see the glint in her eye that she was enjoying herself. So, for the next four nights we played cards and spoke about our past, what we’ve experienced and built a bond.

“After I graduated in 2022 I had a wonderful experience at the Royal London in Whitechapel as a scrub nurse. But something inside was saying this is not for you, you miss the camaraderie of community, being there for the patient. Just to sit with them for a bit after their treatment and to see how they are doing and ask them how they are. I thought I would work in major trauma or theatre, but it was my mum who reminded me how much I love supporting families and how much I had enjoyed working in community as a healthcare assistant. You can make a real connection with patients and their carers. So, I decided to come back to KCHFT.”

Alex found a role with the Acute Response Team in Ashford and will soon be taking up a new position in community nursing. “It doesn’t feel like I’ve even been away,” he said, “every team I have been part of has shaped what I am today, and Covid has shaped me too. But finally, it feels good to be home.”

Would you like a worthwhile career with amazing people, like Alex? Come to community. You can find all our vacancies online.