Anie Ponnaberanam

Anie Ponnaberanam

I work at Royal Papworth hospital, Cambridge as the Lead Clinical Nurse Specialist for the National Pulmonary endarterectomy Centre (PEA historically known as PTE). PEA surgery is the surgical procedure offered to selected patients with Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension (CTEPH), which is a sub type of Pulmonary Hypertension, patients present with breathlessness and fluid overload symptoms to due to right ventricular dysfunction. Royal Papworth Hospital is the only center in the UK and is one of the most active centers in the world.

I have 36 years of nursing experience since graduating in 1984 as a Diploma Nurse in Christian Medical College hospital (CMC), Vellore, India. After working for 5 years in India and 14 years in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman in a senior nurse position, I moved to England in 2005, completed my Overseas Nurses Programme in a Nursing home at Bedford and joined Papworth hospital as Band 5, within Papworth hospital. I have held various positions before becoming the Lead Clinical Nurse Specialist of this national service in 2010. I have since, completed BSc honors degree in health Social care in 2012, and completed the advanced skills in clinical assessment and currently on the Maters Programme.

Although I manage a small team at the hospital, I work closely with the pulmonary hypertension centres and all other health care professionals who care and manage this specific group of patients at the hospitals and primary care around the country. I present educational sessions locally, nationally and internationally raising awareness of this rare disease and about my role in dealing with this particular group of patients who struggle with breathlessness. I have also developed the patient information booklets for PEA surgery pre and post-operative. Other activity includes poster presentation, interviews, publication on my role in Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA-UK) magazine. In 2016 I have been awarded with ‘Leading with care –individual nurse’ award at Royal Papworth Hospital; this achievement is a huge recognition of my service to the Trust and my patients.

BAME network was set up in our trust in June 2018 and I had an opportunity to speak at this inaugural function about my challenges and experiences throughout my career in the UK. This was a great opportunity to present my success story at this inaugural meeting. sharing my difficulties and overcoming the challenges I faced since arriving in the UK and what it feels like to be discriminated and how I have tackled these challenges and have come up to this lead nurse role for the highly repetitive and the second largest national Service in the world.

I have a great passion for the BAME staff and greatly involved in the BAME network, which is still at its infant stage, career coaching, assisting in the interviews to support BAME staff. Even though I am busy, I cannot walk pass if I see a trouble or stressed nurse irrespective of ethnicity, I stop to listen, support and guide them in whatever difficulties they are facing.