Suma John is passionate about equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and about speaking up for internationally educated nurses (IENs). She’s part of a Global Ethnic Majority (GEM) group, started by the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for Wales. “We look into policies to check if they’re giving a voice to ethnic minorities,” Suma says. Her work in this area has led to her giving presentations across Wales, holding conferences and meeting IENs across Wales. “I always say, come to me and I’ll go above and beyond to find an answer and support you,” she says. “I’ve been through a lot in my career!”. Suma is an ardent supporter for bringing those people who’ve got passion and ability to lead to the fore. “When I was sidelined, I did the bare minimum; when someone saw the spark in me, I gave 200%,” she says.
At the CNO Wales conference in Cardiff in 2023, Suma gave a presentation on how ethnic minority nurses need to be supported in hospitals at national and international level. “Whatever I said about developing nurses caught people’s attention – the CNO spoke to me and was very keen on developing a ward managers toolkit,” she recalls. Suma is now on secondment with the Welsh government, working on a handbook for Ward managers in Wales.
Seeing the person behind the illness
As a child, Suma “didn’t have any intention to go into nursing”. She was passionate about mathematics and dreamed of one day being a teacher, but by the time she finished her physics degree she had fallen out of love with the subject. Suma was inspired by Mother Teresa who was working in India, Suma’s home country, supporting the slum community. “I was enchanted by her courage and kindness,” she says. “I wanted to do something like that.”
At the same time, Suma’s father had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and she was spending a lot of time at the hospital with him, where she saw how the nurses “supported their patients both physically and emotionally, getting to know them really well.”
Suma decided that a nursing degree was for her and loved every minute of it. “On the first day, a lecturer told us that anybody coming to study nursing theory should move to a different university; anybody who wanted to stay had to be empathetic and kind,” she says. Suma recalls how the lecturer highlighted the importance of seeing the person behind the illness and to this day, Suma’s message to anybody thinking about a career in nursing is, “if you’ve got passion and compassion and empathy in you to support and know the person behind the illness, there’s a branch of nursing for you and you’ll be welcomed by a group of nurses keen to support you”.
Following her degree – which leads to dual registration in India – Suma discovered that she loved midwifery and worked on a labour room as a midwife before applying for a visa to come and work in the UK. “I was aiming for America!” she says. “I’d never even heard of Wales!” But Suma’s cousin was working in Abergavenny and persuaded her to accept a job at a nursing home in Wales.
Suma finished her adaptation training and started working in an NHS rehabilitation ward in Barry Hospital. She says, “I loved it so much. The people were so nice. The nurses who supported, guided and supervised me were fantastic. They took me as part of their family. There was no discrimination and I felt part of the team”. It was here that Suma undertook her third degree, BSc Palliative Care and her post graduation in Advanced Nursing.
“I wanted to do some acute nursing – I’d lost my confidence in that skill but thought I’d go for a job in an A&E assessment unit,” Suma says. She was offered a clinical job at University Hospital of Wales, where her “confidence immediately went from 0-100!”
Later, Suma worked in the Cardiff Community Resource Team and remembers her “beautiful team and beautiful team leader, Ruth Cann” (RCN Wales Nurse of the Year 2013). “Ruth supported me so much and was one of the first people not to see me as Suma from another country, but just Suma with all her abilities and all her passion,” she says.
Aspiring to leadership
Suma also has fond memories of Rebecca Aylward, Deputy Executive Nurse Director at Cardiff & Vale University Health Board (and winner of the RCN Wales Chief Nursing Officer for Wales Award 2018): “Rebecca mentored me and she inspired me. She didn’t tell me what to do, she helped me find myself and my passion.”
The COVID-19 pandemic hit and Suma was driving to up to 18 houses a day. “I loved how happy people were when the vaccination became available,” she says. “It was such an experience, but after a while I wasn’t enjoying not having much patient interaction; it was too task oriented. I wanted to see the people and have connection with my patients”.
Suma worked as a deputy manager on an elderly care assessment unit at University Hospital Llandough – a role in which she was pleased to have a lot of autonomy – and then took a secondment for a ward manager role at St David’s Hospital, where she brought concerns down. Less than a year later, she was asked to support another ward at Llandough. “They desperately needed me,” she says. “It was a very challenging ward in terms of staff, concerns, complaints, pressure areas and safeguarding issues. There was no leader for a long time due to staff sickness and changes. The staff didn’t have any recognition, any leadership.” Suma’s deputy, Emma Grant, “was a God-given gift” and together they turned the ward around, giving training and support, achieving accreditation and winning a Nurses’ Day competition, which gave a boost to the staff.
Breaking through the wall
In 2024, Suma learned about an opportunity to join the RCN Wales Board. “I thought the RCN was just there to help if I had an issue but I soon realised how much it stands for its members,” she says. “I decided to apply and was successful in being appointed to the Board. I want to put equity into the discussions in the room and I believe I add some diversity into the Board. I want to break the brick wall to show my community, you can follow me, you can do it too. I feel like if I pave the way, there will be more interested in joining”.
Looking to the future, Suma wants to go into more strategic roles. “I want to support the goal for Wales to be an anti-racist nation by 2030,” she says.
