Emma Consadine is a real-life hero! She is larger than life and phenomenal at her job! I met Emma around 5 years ago as my son had been admitted for the first time to an adult neurosurgical ward. As you can imagine, this was a very scary time for us. We need not have worried as Emma blended her neurosurgical nursing skills with her clear natural ability as a learning disability nurse to ensure that K felt safe and secure. This was the beginning of an amazing relationship.
We were delighted when Emma became a full-time learning disability nurse as she is incredibly gifted with obvious skills of patience, advocacy and understanding teamed with a wicked sense of humour! Emma has been there not just for K, but me as well over the 5 years. Emma has ensured that K has a voice in his care and control in a world that is terrifying for him. She ensures that I can always stay to support K and will step in to ensure that I get meaningful breaks from my role as his mum and carer. Emma has an incredible skill in getting K to consider options around his care when I am tearing my hair out at his stubbornness.
Emma is there whenever we need her, ensuring that reasonable adjustments are made when being admitted and dealing with the fallout when things have not gone to plan. She ensures that preadmission runs smoothly with quiet rooms, the pain team available for blood and most importantly, his traffic light assessment and one-page profile are shared before we set through the door.
For A&E trips during working hours, Emma is already there with the traffic light assessment and her humour to relieve stress. When medics feel that they know best and K is rallying against them, she breaks down the issue advocating for K whilst also supporting the care that needs to be given.
Emma is fierce if things go wrong, and she has put plans in place to ensure that K feels safe and secure. For example, K is terrified of needles and clearly displays this on his door and above his bed. Medics do have a habit of not being observant or talking to his nurse before walking in with blood-taking equipment. This frightens K more than anyone could possibly understand and is the single worst thing you can do to him without appropriate plans in place. Emma will calmly, yet firmly reiterate K's needs and the information available, being his voice when he is unable to verbalize his stress.
Emma went above and beyond at the beginning of lockdown when K needed a CT scan. If it had not been for her knowledge and relationship with K, it would have been an absolute disaster! He was booked onto the mobile unit, despite being a wheelchair user and letters cam stating contrast was needed. This put K in a blind panic and Emma arranged everything in the background in her usual calm and efficient way. Suffice to say, he was scanned in the main building without contrast!
Emma goes more than the extra mile when supporting K. During a recent admission, she advocated for him during discussions, came into work when she should have been working from home, and also called us to check-in out of hours as she was concerned about how we were getting on. She reportedly only does this when she needs to and does have a work/life balance!
I really struggled emotionally after the last admission and Emma came alongside me, listened, and supported me at every level. Her compassion, empathy, and understanding are incredible strengths and rarely seen to this degree from others.
This nurse is also completely bonkers! She uses her wicked sense of humour to relax K, break down his fears, and put him at ease. She takes the time to get to know him in order to support him fully, even meeting for coffee and exchanging valentine's cards! This amazing nurse is a credit to herself, her profession, and the hospital. I truly think there is only one Emma Consadine in the world, and how lucky are we all to have her?
This nomination is for a DAISY Award which she has earned 10 times over! K has learning difficulties and wrote this to go alongside my nomination:
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Emma helps gets everything organized for me for when I come into the hospital by arranging for me to get a side room so my mum can stay and also this helps by making sure I'm in a quiet room which I really like. If I need to have blood, she arranges for the pain team to come so that I can have Entonox as I have a massive phobia of needles. She also comes and visits me when I get admitted into hospital which I really love, and she always puts a smile on my face, and she always makes me laugh.
She also makes sure that people listen to me which is really important to me. But also she tries to make sure that people read my traffic light assessment first before coming to see me so that they have a better understanding of me. By Emma doing all of this it helps me feel a lot calmer, happier, and most importantly a lot safer for when I come into hospital. She is an amazing woman! I don't know what I would do without her making sure that I feel happy and safe.