Ruth Cann is a Consultant Nurse for Older Vulnerable Adults at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board.
I began my nursing career straight out of school at 16. After securing a place on the Project 2000 programme at the Charles Frears School of Nursing in Leicester, I worked in a dementia care home before starting my training at 17. That early experience stayed with me and shaped how I see care today. Caring for older people is about far more than managing illness. It is about understanding the person, their story, and what matters most to them.
Over the past 30 years, I have worked across acute and community settings, including trauma and orthopaedics, rehabilitation, and integrated care services. A defining moment came in my late twenties when I moved from acute care into rehabilitation and continuing healthcare. I remember being asked by a senior staff member, “Are you sure?”, but that decision shaped everything that followed.
What drew me to geriatrics, and what has kept me here, is both the complexity and the privilege of the work. Supporting older people living with frailty, dementia and multiple long-term conditions requires a truly holistic approach. It challenges you to think differently, not just about treatment, but about independence, dignity and quality of life.
Now, as a Consultant Nurse for Older Vulnerable Adults in Cardiff and Vale, my role spans clinical practice, leadership, strategy, education and research. I work across systems, leading on areas such as dementia care, falls prevention and mental capacity assessment. At the heart of this is a commitment to a strengths-based, person-centred approach. Supporting people to live as well as possible.
One of the most powerful reflections on this came from a community frailty nurse I interviewed as part of a National Bevan Commission project:
“As a nurse working with older people in hospitals, I used to think my role was to keep people safe at all costs. Now, as a community frailty nurse, I feel my role is to help people live as well as they can on their own terms.”
This really resonates with me. It reflects the shift we are seeing and must continue to drive. From risk-averse care to care that enables people to maintain choice, identity, and control in their lives.
So why should others choose this field?
Geriatrics offers a career that is both challenging and deeply rewarding. It will push you to develop advanced clinical skills, critical thinking and compassionate leadership. It gives you the opportunity to build meaningful relationships with people and their families at some of the most important points in their lives. It also allows you to work across boundaries – across health, social care and communities - making a real difference not just to individuals, but across whole systems of care.
Most importantly, it is a field where you can truly advocate for people. Ensuring their voice is heard, their strengths recognised and their dignity upheld. As our population ages, this work has never been more important.
If you are considering your career pathway, think about where you can have the greatest impact. For me, that has always been with older people.
