My name is Bernie Miller and I took up the post of North West representative on the RCN Stewards’ Committee earlier this year.
Alongside my full-time job as a Mum to two daughters (and 2 grand-daughters!) I’ve also worked a second full-time job for the past 40 years as a Registered Nurse. The old adage about ‘if you want something doing, ask a busy person’ is most certainly true when it comes to those of us juggling a home and family life.
Despite the multiple demands on my time, I’m lucky enough to have had a fulfilling and busy career, continually developing and growing and learning different specialisms. I started my career in neuroscience nursing and moved onto working in Critical Care caring for acutely ill ventilated patients.
In my time I’ve been a State Enrolled Nurse, a Staff Nurse, a Deputy Matron, a Ward Manager and a Discharge Lounge Manager, amongst other roles, but it was in 2010 that I laid the foundation for my current role as Staff Side Chair/Partnership Officer at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (LTH) by first joining the RCN.
In 2014 I undertook my Reps training and was proud to become an RCN Steward in my Trust. I’ve spent the intervening eight years passionately advocating for the RCN, encouraging sign up to membership and encouraging more colleagues to become reps. These efforts have paid off - from being the only steward, we now have a further two stewards in the Trust, with two more in training, plus two learning representatives and two Health and Safety representatives.
My role is primarily to support our members by ensuring there is effective communication between our RCN team and our RCN members within the Trust. It was gratifying to receive favourable feedback from the Chief Peoples Officer and Chief Nurse about the professional development of the relationship between staff side and management since my appointment and it is this relationship building that I hope to bring to my role on the Stewards Committee.
Many senior managers within my Trust advise staff to contact me if they have issues. I strive to support them by a blend of patience, open communication and a depth of clinical knowledge that I have fine-tuned over the years.
The role has also afforded me the opportunity to be part of the Senior Managers meeting, which is led by our Chief Nurse and has subsequently developed into the Leaders Forum. I work very closely with the eleven other accredited unions within the Trust and find that I am contacted for advice within their own areas.
All these opportunities and experiences have combined to give me confidence to speak up and speak out for our members and to go the extra mile to support them when they are most in need. The ability to listen effectively, examine all viewpoints and verbalise my concerns or opinions are all skills that enable me to address problems and seek appropriate solutions.
I’m very happy to have been given this opportunity to represent my fellow Stewards and am here to help and to listen. The role of the Stewards Committee is to represent your views and to help shape the RCN’s policies on workplace and employment rights and it is a privilege to be part of that process.
I’m hoping to get along, virtually or otherwise, to as many NW branch meetings as I can in the coming months to meet you all. In the meantime, I’m here to represent you so if you are a Steward within the region and have something you wish to share or with which you would appreciate support, please do get in touch. My email is Bernadette.miller@rcn.reps.org.uk.
