Claire Dooley
Claire Dooley is a Sister working in our neonatal unit, where our smallest and sickest babies receive specialist care.
Claire joined the team in 2015 as a band 5 nurse, and now leads on recruiting and mentoring new team members.
Here, we catch up with Claire…
What made you want to get into this area of nursing?
I trained in adult nursing, but I’ve always loved babies and so I was excited when I discovered there was an opportunity for me to move into neonatal nursing. Once I joined the team at St George’s, I knew I’d found my niche.
What has been your favourite part of being involved with Baby Surgeons?
I think the best part of this series is seeing the amazing in-utero surgeries. While we are told about babies who have had laser therapy or blood transfusions in the womb, we don’t necessarily see those procedures taking place, so I thought it was great to see the obstetricians in action.
What would you say to someone who is interested in progressing into a similar career?
I would definitely encourage anyone with an interest in neonatal nursing to apply. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed taking on the challenge to broaden my knowledge and experience in neonates as I progressed from a band 5 staff nurse to a band 7 sister. The opportunities are endless and there’s always something new to learn.
What do you enjoy about working in a neonatal unit?
I love being a Sister on the neonatal unit. Supporting parents to care for their babies and watching them grow as a family is really rewarding. There’s always a sense of achievement when you see babies leaving the unit to go home.
What opportunities are there to join the neonatal unit team at St George’s?
We have two fantastic senior staff nurse roles available in our team. One of the positions would involve helping to manage our special care and neonatal units, and the other our transitional care unit. The latter is a developing area which aims to keep mothers and babies together on our postnatal ward.
Please follow the links below for more information about both roles, and don’t hesitate to get in touch with me via claire.dooley@stgeorges.nhs.uk if you have any questions about either position.
