Paula Elding

I became a mental health nurse back in 1988, and let me tell you, the NHS was a whole different ballgame back then. I spent my early years in acute services until I had kids, after which I shifted to working in dementia nursing homes for about a decade, fitting my job around my family. Then I transitioned to agency work as a community nurse in district nursing services. It raised some eyebrows since I was an RMN stepping into a general nursing role, but back then, the training was before Project 2000, so I could work wherever I had the right skills.

I spent several years in the community, focusing on tissue viability, and even got a year-long secondment at a big general hospital as a Tissue Viability Nurse, where I ran clinics and trained staff. After injuring my knee, I needed a role that wasn’t so tough on my joints, so in 2015, I applied for a Band 5 position in Continuing Healthcare. It was a step down, but it fit my life better and helped me tap back into my RMN skills. Fast forward to 2025, I have climbed the ranks to Band 6, then 7, and now I’m at 8A. The CHC landscape has changed a lot with the shift from CCG to CSU and then ICB, and while there have been challenges, I can’t see myself working anywhere else.