Jul 13, 2026 · 21 min · 10 segments
Petrina Donnelly has spent thirty-three years in nursing, from a hospital ward in Craigavon to one of Ireland's new Regional Director of Nursing and Midwifery posts. Ask how she got there, and the…
Patrina DonnellyGuest
Marie KilduffHostListen to that career, and a pattern shows up.
Not a grand plan, but a habit of saying yes.
I've always been tapped on the shoulder, wheth- whether it be, you know, the next promotional role.
You know, maybe sometimes I would've said, "No, I'm not, I don't have the experience for that." But I've always been the one that somebody's come along, tapped me on the shoulder, said, "Go on.
Uh, you know, you should challenge yourself, and you'd be great in it." Uh, and that's really good, you know, to have people like that kinda mentoring you through your career.
Yeah.
Uh, we all need to do that to ourselves, 'cause sometimes we don't always put ourselves forward.
Mm-hmm.
Um, or we don't see ourselves being the person that actually could go in and do those roles.
But certainly, you know, any role I've taken on, you know, I've really thrived in it because of the people around me, and I think, you know, that's really important, um, to keep that with you, no matter what journey you're on or what chapter you're on in your career.
And I think one of the stories, like, I mean, I will say in my early career in, in London, I met a phenomenal, uh, nurse leader, Sister Bryers, and she was my first ward manager.
Her standards would've been really, really high, uh, but her support along with that was really high, and I think that was a really positive environment that I was kind of exposed to for the first 18 months of my career, and I learnt a lot from that.
And even when I got the opportunity to go back to London to do the Florence Nightingale Global Scholarship, I went to St Thomas' to see if I could locate Sister Bryers, thinking, uh, you know, at the time she's probably well retired.
But she had retired just before COVID, and came back during COVID, and I- and I located her.
... because I think she shaped a lot of who I was in that younger years, and actually, that really taught me throughout the years to say, "Do it.
Listen to that career, and a pattern shows up.
Not a grand plan, but a habit of saying yes.
I've always been tapped on the shoulder, wheth- whether it be, you know, the next promotional role.
You know, maybe sometimes I would've said, "No, I'm not, I don't have the experience for that." But I've always been the one that somebody's come along, tapped me on the shoulder, said, "Go on.
Uh, you know, you should challenge yourself, and you'd be great in it." Uh, and that's really good, you know, to have people like that kinda mentoring you through your career.
Yeah.
Uh, we all need to do that to ourselves, 'cause sometimes we don't always put ourselves forward.
Mm-hmm.
Um, or we don't see ourselves being the person that actually could go in and do those roles.
But certainly, you know, any role I've taken on, you know, I've really thrived in it because of the people around me, and I think, you know, that's really important, um, to keep that with you, no matter what journey you're on or what chapter you're on in your career.
And I think one of the stories, like, I mean, I will say in my early career in, in London, I met a phenomenal, uh, nurse leader, Sister Bryers, and she was my first ward manager.
Her standards would've been really, really high, uh, but her support along with that was really high, and I think that was a really positive environment that I was kind of exposed to for the first 18 months of my career, and I learnt a lot from that.
And even when I got the opportunity to go back to London to do the Florence Nightingale Global Scholarship, I went to St Thomas' to see if I could locate Sister Bryers, thinking, uh, you know, at the time she's probably well retired.
But she had retired just before COVID, and came back during COVID, and I- and I located her.
... because I think she shaped a lot of who I was in that younger years, and actually, that really taught me throughout the years to say, "Do it.
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