Melaine Coward shares reflections

Thirteen-year-old Melaine had no doubt about her future. After volunteering at her local cottage hospital, she told her family she wanted to be a nurse and help people.

“It was the only day of the week I used to get up early,” she recalled. “I'd be down there at 7am and I would just wash people, feed and talk to them all day. I loved it.” 

After qualifying as a Registered General Nurse from King’s College Hospital in December 1990, Melaine began her career in haematology before completing a degree in Cancer Nursing. She went on to become a breast care nurse specialist, focusing on pre-menopausal women and male breast cancers. She was the first nurse specialist in this area at the Royal Marsden and later became the lead cancer nurse in Brighton. 
 
Recognising the potential to make a wider impact through education, Melaine took on a lecturer practitioner role at Brighton University in 1998. Most recently, she was Dean of Health Sciences at the University of Surrey. In July 2024, she joined the NMC’s Education Quality Assurance where she is now Assistant Director.  

She said: “It’s an absolute privilege to be a nurse and I feel the same about being a nurse educator because you get to influence that next generation. When you talk to a classroom, even if one person hears one thing you say, they can roll that out in their patient care and make an impact. In order to improve care, I felt education was the right place.” 

Melaine now draws on her extensive education experience in her role at the NMC – working with education providers to ensure students have a learning experience that gives them with the skills and knowledge they need to practise safely.

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