Jan Gower's story
Jan Gower has been a nurse for 36 years, the past 23 of which have been spent working in general practice, initially as a practice nurse then as an advanced nurse practitioner. Her mother was a registered nurse until her retirement and her grandmother was a nursing auxillary. Jan’s daughter Bethan is also a nurse in general practice. Janet tells us about her career in nursing.
“Despite the family history I didn’t always want to be a nurse! Although I was fairly academic, my first love was contemporary dance and I’d have loved to pursue that. However, it wasn’t to be and having done some voluntary work in a local hospice unit for my Duke of Edinburgh Award I decided to become a nurse. However, I wanted a University experience as well and so I applied at age 18 for one of the few, early nursing degrees that were then available. I spent four years in Sheffield…it was a hard course, and we encountered a lot of bullying and prejudice back then. I persevered as I knew that one day nursing would become an all-graduate profession if it was to meet the demands of modern healthcare.
“Nursing has given me a fantastic career. What a privileged job. I knew when I came into general practice I had found my “niche” and alongside the hands-on role I have been fortunate to spend time in commissioning, education and leadership roles advocating for practice nurses and their patients everywhere.
“As I approach the latter years of my career I now work as a locum nurse and my main role is supporting future practice nurses via the GPN Fellowship at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Training Hub. I am passionate about recruitment and retention to these important roles whilst acknowledging the support and development they need and we can offer.
“It has been a joy to see my daughter graduate as a nurse and enter general practice as her first job on qualification. Mentoring her via the Fellowship Scheme has been one of the highlights of my career.”
Janet’s daughter, Bethan Gower graduated as a registered nurse in 2021. She spent the last 15 months of her training in the Pandemic. She works at The Riverside Practice in March.
“I was inspired by my mum to become a nurse. I remember being with mum in a local supermarket and a lady stopped to talk to her and touched my arm and said she wouldn’t have been here if it wasn’t for mum. This was my first realisation that nursing was a career that made a difference to people’s lives not only during happy times but also at the most vulnerable and painful periods in their lives. Practice nurses look after patients from the cradle to the grave and few areas of nursing allow you to develop those continual relationships with patients, families, communities.
“Mum has been a pioneer for practice nursing and has been a local and national voice for the profession…but she does everything with the patient at the heart of it.
“I love my job – I hope I am at the start of a long career nursing as part of the community. I also hope to develop my teaching skills and carry forward the great support I have had from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Training Hub GPN Fellowship Scheme.”