Now Sergeant Alexandra Doyle, who worked and volunteered for us in the Surbiton Home, gives us an update on her life as a military nurse.

Hello all,

It’s been a while, but I thought i’d give you a little update…

The last time I wrote anything, I was working at DMRC Headley Court – the military rehabilitation centre which was located near Leatherhead in Surrey. I’m sure you’re all aware that we relocated the entire rehabilitation centre to the Midlands at DMRC Stanford Hall, near Loughborough last year. We’re all settled in now, with hundreds of patients coming through every month. The cinema on camp opened a few weeks ago and we’ve had lots of fab summer functions, families days events and very soon it’ll be the big goodbye party to our fabulous Commanding Officer – Group Captain Theresa Griffiths OBE. It’s such an amazing facility and I’m really proud to have been part of it from back at the lovely Headley Court to the now amazing Stanford Hall.

However, my time there is also now coming to an end; in April I was promoted to Sergeant and with any promotion in the military also comes a location move. So I am due to start my next posting at DMS Whittington (only about 45 minutes down the road from Stanford Hall and near the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham).

I’ll be a ‘Course Commander’ at the Phase 2 training establishment for military medics. (Phase 1 is basic training and then Phase 2 is where they learn the skills for their particular trade). I’m really looking forward to this role, although naturally am a bit nervous about it. It will be a big change, but teaching is really what I want to do, so it’ll be an amazing introduction to education. From my basic understanding and research, DMS Whittington Phase 2 training is going through some big changes soon in the management and structure of the courses held there. So this will I am sure present some great opportunities and some challenges to manage.

Personally – I have now bought a house in Norwich, Norfolk and absolutely love the city! It’s where my mum completed her nurse training so she is also enjoying being back there for occasional weekends. I unfortunately don’t work nearby, but it’s so nice to have my own place and somewhere to go back to when I’m not at work! I’ve started doing park runs there (when I’m home) and have some friends that I meet up with to do crafty things like knitting and stitching – it’s really great! It’s also an amazing place for road cycling – especially as Norfolk is so flat though Norwich does have some challenging hills!

Many thanks,

Sgt Alex Doyle (Sgt sounds so strange!)