Working Life: The night nurse service allows people to die at home peacefully, with their family

Joan O’Neill, night nurse, Irish Cancer Society

Night nurse Joan O’Neill, originally from the Rocky coastline of North Kerry, now lives in Glanmire. Picture: Chani Anderson

“My grandmother was a nurse in the North Infirmary in Cork, and even though I never met her, I was always interested in nursing. It was hard to get into at the time. I studied arts at UCC for a year, followed by a year working in the kitchen in the Bons.

“I subsequently got a training place in Beaumont Hospital in Dublin. Back then, most training was on the wards, and the remainder was theory. It’s the reverse now.