Who's Listening

Hello, I'm Emily. I've wanted to be a Nurse since I was 7yrs old. I qualified in 2005 as a Paediatric Nurse. I have completed further qualifications to specialise in School Health Nursing and Teaching for student Nurses. I have worked with Children In Care for 9 years in different settings. My goal is to ensure the voice of care experienced children and adults, shapes the way health services are delivered to ensure they are accessible, appealing and have a trauma informed approach. 

I love animals! I have 2 dogs, 3 cats, 1 rabbit, and 4 guinea pigs

Hi I am Sarah, I qualified as a Nurse in 1996. I then did more training to specialise in school nursing, and to support student school nurses and health visitors with their training. I have worked with children who are in care for 17 years with some of that time in the youth offending team. I am passionate that children in care, those with care experience and the adults that support them shape services and that the service is agile to meet the changing needs of the group it serves. I have three grown up children and moved to Sussex seven years ago, I love living by the sea, sea dipping, running and generally being outside.    

For as long as I can remember I wanted to be a nurse and began my 3-year training when I was 18 in Guildford, Surrey. As soon as I qualified, I moved to Eastbourne and started working on a busy medical ward for 5 years before moving to community nursing. This inspired me to complete a degree course in public health. I did apply for district nursing but was swayed at the last minute to change direction by a friend who had started health visiting. This turned out to be the best decision as it was a great job, and I had the privilege of working with lots of different families for over 10 years. However, in 2006 I unexpectedly made the transition to working with children in care. My team was asked to cover planned sickness of a nurse specialist and without much thought I volunteered and found out I loved it. At the beginning I worked closely with individual children

to help keep them healthy and well, but now I have a different role influencing health and social care policy and services at a local and national level. I love cooking, dogs, tortoises, swimming and reading.

Like my colleagues, I have always wanted to be a children’s nurse and started my training in 2002 to become a paediatric nurse. I have worked in a number of hospitals and in the community with children and adolescents with physical and mental health needs throughout my career. I cannot remember any job where I have not pushed myself out of my comfort zone where I have been driven by the need to improve health services for the children I worked with. 

I am keen to bring the voice of children in care and care leavers to the health system to ensure that they have equal opportunity to thrive and succeed. I want to hear what you have to say and I believe that health services will only improve if we listen and make changes in response to your voice.

A bit about me…

I love spending time outdoors particularly the beach. I have 2 guinea pigs called Marmalade and Jaffa. I once did a skydive, I didn’t love it but I was really proud I had done it because it was a real achievement for me!

My name is Dr Isabelle Hodgson. My aspiration is for all Children in Care and Care leavers across Sussex to be able to see doctors, dentists and other health care professionals when they need to. I would like those people to have access to your medical records even if you were born or grew up somewhere else so that you don't need to keep repeating your story over and over again. I would like for you to be treated with dignity and respect and for your voice to be heard and listened to every time you have a health appointment.