Vivien Ziwocha, London

Why did you become a nurse?
I grew up in a family where informal care was an everyday occurrence. My mother was a registered nurse and my late grandmother lived opposite a hospital in Zimbabwe and adopted an informal community carer role: patients travelling from afar would stay overnight or live in her home while receiving treatment. Both their experiences influenced me to become a nurse.

How has your career developed since you started nursing?
I have been a nurse since 2001. In my teenage years, I did a lot of volunteer work with children with learning disabilities. I found this fulfilling and enrolled to train as a learning disability nurse. However, part-way through my course, I had a really insightful placement on a mental health ward that led me to change my specialism to mental health. Throughout my career, I have worked closely with people who have dementia and long-term conditions associated with dementia, as well as their carers. I have worked with teams that have transformed care for people with dementia within their respective sectors. Unfortunately, despite all their best efforts, providing seamless services was not possible due to the different funding streams. This focused my efforts on trying to develop services that provide integrated health and social care, and that is why I joined Red & Yellow Care as their head of care.