A NURSE at Tavistock Hospital has scooped a prestigious award for outstanding achievement from the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry. Paul Casey was 36 when he moved to West Devon and switched to nursing after a career in theatre and film in London. 'My mum was a nurse but when I was younger I wanted to do my own thing,' he said. 'It wasn't until much later in life that I felt something was missing and decided I needed a change.' Paul managed to get a job as a healthcare assistant on the medical ward at Tavistock Hospital. His colleagues there encouraged him to pursue further training and a year later Paul, who now lives in Callington, became the first nurse from the hospital to be funded by Devon Primary Care Trust to study for a higher education diploma in nursing. He said: 'It was certainly not easy going back to studying. But I got a huge sense of achievement from the course, and I think that the life experience and communication skills I brought with me as an older student really helped, especially on the wards, where you deal with people from so many different backgrounds.' Around 450 nursing students from across the peninsula are eligible for the annual Charis Yeoman award, which is given for excellence in academic study but also in recognition of an important contribution to university life. The award is in memory of the promising young Devon nurse killed in a road accident in 2000. Head of the School of Nursing at Plymouth Dr Anne Humphreys said Paul was partly chosen for this year's award because of the role he played in 'the evaluation and development of the nursing programme.' Tavistock Hospital manager Phillipa Bridle said that the whole hospital was proud of Paul's achievement: 'It's a wonderful success for everyone here who supported him through his studies - he's our first home-grown staff nurse and we're delighted that he's now chosen to come back to Tavistock to work.' BELOW: Paul with patient Elizabeth Loades, aged 100, at Tavistock Hospital. Picture by James Bird
