Home > Who we are > Member profiles > Madeleine Hackett
Madeleine Hackett
Professional background
I started nursing as a cadet in 1961 at the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary. After becoming a State Registered Nurse in 1966, I worked as a night sister on the newly opened intensive care unit. I then trained as a midwife at the Jessop Hospital in Sheffield.
I have also worked as a night superintendant at Makeney Hospital for people with severe learning difficulties, and for short spells as an occupational health nurse at Qualcast and British Rail in Derby.
My experience working abroad consists of two years in Australia working at a small bush hospital and at the intensive care unit at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane. I returned to the UK and trained as a district nursing sister and as a health visitor and fieldwork teacher.
Between 1975 and 1985, I worked as a part-time writer and reviewer for Nursing Times and Nursing Standard publications.
More recently, I have worked for Derbyshire social services as a senior manager at a home for the elderly.
Professional Concern
I have spent the whole of my working life caring and looking after people too ill or frail to look after themselves. I thought leaving nursing behind would be easy but it wasn't. For me, nursing really is a vocation, which I why I wanted to set up Professional Concern, so that I can continue to contribute to patients' dignity and care.