A COMMUNITY staff nurse from East Yorkshire will be gracing our television screens next week.
Gillian Clark, 48, will be appearing in the new ITV series Nursing The Nation.
The programme, which starts on Thursday, is a fly-on-the-wall documentary about district nursing.
Four locations were picked for the programme – East Yorkshire, Bath, Devon and Liverpool.
The first episode will mainly centre around the West Country, with episode two featuring Gillian.
The Pocklington-based nurse, who works for Humber NHS Foundation Trust, said: "I thought it was a joke when I was first told they wanted to film me.
"It was great having the camera crews with us, it really made you think about the job and what you were doing.
"They were filming for several weeks. I wouldn't say it became normal but we did eventually get used to them being around."
Gillian's episode, due to be aired at 8.30pm on Thursday, January 10, shows her visiting cancer patient Christopher. He is juggling first-time fatherhood with recovering from a serious operation.
Months before filming the programme, he was rushed to hospital with severe stomach pains. Surgeons then discovered he had a cancerous tumour.
Gillian said: "It's going to be a very tough few months.
"You always put yourself in that situation and think, 'how would I cope with it?'
"He seems to be doing really well."
Gillian has been working in the field since November 1993.
Her duties include going out to patients registered with the doctor's surgery in Pocklington.
She will visit anyone who is housebound, from elderly patients to younger people with life-limiting illnesses.
Gillian said: "I really enjoy it, I don't class it as work.
"I work with some lovely people.
"A major part of the job is treating cancer and terminal illnesses.
"It is hard when they are younger and would have had a lot of life to live."
Despite some of the harrowing stories covered in the weekly episodes, Gillian says she is looking forward to watching the programme.
She said: "I am very nervous about it going out but I am looking forward to it.
"Going to work the day after will be a bit strange – people might recognise me off the TV."
