D.O.B 23/08/1964
Commenced Student Nursing in 1983 at Kent and Canterbury Hospital. Returned to London in 1987 to work at Mayday Hospital in Croydon on a Breast and Bowel surgical ward. Her interest in Cancer inspired her to take the Cancer Degree at the Royal Marsden for 2 years. She moved to St Georges Hospital in 2000 to take up the role the Macmillan Breast CNS for Oncology and Metastatic Breast patients for 15 years. She has also been involved with Macmillan in their “No one faces cancer alone” campaign which covered a national poster and video for the website.
At present she works as a Breast Screening CNS with the Southwest London Breast Screening Unit. The role is to support the clients, advise GPs and encourage uptake of Breast Screening. The age range is 50 to 71 but encourage ladies over 71 to self-refer. She was involved with NHS England ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ targeting the Black and Ethnic minority groups. To encourage breast awareness amongst the over 70’s with a recommendation to continue breast screenings using local churches social media and radio interviews. The role has a large Health Promotion element to increase the take up of Breast Screening within the health inequalities within the community.
On 5th July 2023 She was awarded the lifetime achievement for 40 years of Nursing and pastoral care support for International Jamaican Nurses at the NHS Parliamentary Awards. On the same day also went to a reception at 10 Downing Street for the 75th Anniversary of the NHS.
Charmaine is the President of the Nurses Association of Jamaica (UK) NAJ(UK)
are a registered charity supporting individual nurses in hardship and focusing on health and wellbeing in the community in the UK, Jamaica, and other international countries. She has been a member since 1989. www.naj.org.uk
She is also the Secretary for the Mary Seacole Memorial Association which has an annual commemorative service annually in May and maintains the Grave of Mary Seacole in St Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, Harrow Road, Kensal Green.
Recently she has become the co-vice Chair for the Mary Seacole Trust (MST) that promotes the Mary Seacole Legacy by involving the community. The Mary Seacole Statue was erected in 2016 and stands in the grounds of St Thomas Hospital. MST is leading in Diversity and Leadership skills courses, the Mary Seacole Awards in Nursing, an inspiring the youth section and engaging with school children about their Modern-day Mary Seacole.
