Destiny’s Story

From “Chip Shop Diva” to Hospice Hero

We sat down with our Student Placement Nurse, Destiny to discuss how she came to KEMP Hospice after rising to TikTok fame as the “Chip Shop Diva.” Destiny has become a local celebrity and has been lucky enough to experience some amazing opportunities, but this hasn’t distracted her from continuing to follow her passion for nursing.

“Alongside working at the local chip shop, I have been studying Adult Nursing, I chose to study nursing as I was inspired by the impact nurses have on other people. During my time at Uni and while on placement, I have gained experience in caring for others, which I hadn’t had before,” explained Destiny.

Destiny’s Journey to KEMP…

While studying, Destiny is required to go on placement and cover three different areas of nursing, she shared how KEMP has been very different to anything she’s done. “I’ve really enjoyed being at KEMP, because you get to know and build a relationship with patients. When I worked elsewhere, you just see people briefly, then you discharge them on the same day, and you never see them again. I’ve really enjoyed the fact that you see the same people, and experience one-to-one time with them.”

It was by chance that Destiny was placed by her Uni to work at KEMP. After spending six weeks at the Hospice, Destiny has been blown away by the misconceptions that she first had when thinking about Hospices. “I expected a load of end-of-life care and seeing loads of death, but it’s not like that at all. It’s a lot happier place. You kind of forget that there’s things going on with people. I didn’t know what it was going to be like before I came, and it is my favourite placement I have had yet. All the staff are so lovely and all the patients are so friendly. In my third year, I can choose my last placement, so I’ll be picking to come back here!”

A Deeper Understanding of Hospice Care

Throughout her placement, Destiny has been able to participate in a variety of services that KEMP offers, from Music and Creative Art Therapy to Exercise and Wellbeing classes and Occupational Therapy. Destiny gained hands-on experience learning how different services benefit patients. She also had the opportunity to observe Clinical Nurse specialists during home visits, learning about pain and symptom management, and how nurses collaborate with primary care.

Destiny opened up about the struggles she found while on her placement, “One of the most challenging parts of the job and obviously with the strong connections you build is that sometimes you need to communicate sad news but you forget that part goes on because you’re sat there with everyone and everyone’s so happy that you don’t really realise those things that go on in the background. KEMP is an escape for patients in many ways.”