Ipswich: Students share moment they chose to join NHS

Over the last 75 years, the National Health Service has made a difference to countless lives. 

Lucila Camilo and Tamith Holmes know this only too well. Both are studying health courses at the University of Suffolk in Ipswich. 

For Lucila, 45, the moment which spurred her to become a nurse came in 2018 when she was diagnosed with bowel cancer. At the time, she was pregnant with her son, Tiago. 

Lucila Camilo decided to become a nurse after her experience with bowel cancer in 2018. Image: UOS (Image: UOS)

Dame Deborah James was a huge advocate for early testing for bowel cancer. Image: PA (Image: PA)

Lucila received life-saving treatment, which included a colostomy procedure. 

“I can sympathise with patients so much because I have been a patient as well,” she said. 

“I have been in a position with loads of questions and doubts and uncertainties, but when we have proper support and care it makes all the difference. 

“I would never be able to give back what I received but I want to provide people with good care.” 

According to Cancer Research UK, bowel cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK.  

Before her death from the disease in June last year, Dame Deborah James was a huge advocate of further research and regular screening, so that early diagnoses could prevent as many deaths as possible. 

Lucila is currently working on placement with district nurses in Felixstowe, and has already been offered a job as a community nurse for when she completes her studies at the end of this month. 

Meanwhile, Tanith Holmes is a second-year adult nursing student. She too has a very personal reason for pursuing a career in the NHS. 

She said: “My dad died when I was 14 from cancer, and I looked after him quite a bit when he was ill.  

“It really pushed me to realise that looking after people was my passion, and I want to prevent people from feeling how I felt. They need someone to understand and I have given that to a lot of people.  

“That can change someone’s life. They are able to see they aren’t alone.”

Tanith Holmes lost her father to cancer when she was just 14. Image: UOS (Image: University of Suffolk) This year marks 75 years of the NHS. (Image: Newsquest)

Tanith, 20, has worked on placements at Ipswich Hospital and Felixstowe Community Hospital, and has her eyes on a career as a community nurse in NHS sexual health services. 

Tanith said the broad range of skills she has learnt and the rotations at her placements have helped her build up a wealth of experience, and she feels proud to go to work every day. 

She said: “You can feel good about yourself going home and looking back on the day, and knowing that you did a good thing, even if you cried. And sometimes it isn’t just caring for them, sometimes it is just giving them your time.” 

Health and social care courses are among the biggest at the University, with numbers on those courses having grown by around 40 per cent since the university became independent in 2016. Plans to expand those numbers further are in the pipeline. 

In addition, the University has opened a new £13 million Health and Wellbeing Building featuring industry-standard equipment for training future healthcare professionals.