At Hospice Whanganui, our people are at the heart of everything we do and Nurse Lead Anna brings both deep experience and genuine compassion to her role.
To say Anna is Whanganui born and bred is an understatement. She still lives in the same house she grew up in, now surrounded by family, with her parents and extended whānau all close by. For Anna, connection to place and people has always been central to her life and her work.
Anna knew from a young age that she wanted to be a nurse. Before Whanganui had its own training campus, she and her fellow students travelled daily to Palmerston North to complete her nursing studies – a commitment that set the tone for her career.
After graduating, Anna gained valuable experience working in Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital in Medical Haematology, before returning home to Whanganui. Her journey then took her further afield, working in remote communities in far north Queensland, including Mornington Island and Doomadgee.
Reflecting on that time, Anna describes it simply: “It was amazing, absolutely amazing.”
Those early experiences helped shape her approach to care, grounded in adaptability, cultural understanding, and connection.
Returning to Whanganui, Anna built her career across Hospice Whanganui, Whanganui Accident and Medical Clinic, and further work in Australia, before settling into family life with her husband Mathew and their three boys.
Today, as Nurse Lead at Hospice Whanganui, Anna brings over 20 years of nursing experience and specialist palliative care knowledge to her role.
She works alongside a multidisciplinary team – including nurses, doctors, Health Care Assistants, and the Whānau Support team – to ensure care is truly patient- and whānau-led.
One of the most important parts of her role is helping people understand what hospice care really is.
“The focus of Hospice is not on death, but on the life that is being lived right now.”
Anna plays a key role in guiding our nurse-led model of care, ensuring every team member has a voice and that each patient’s needs, values, and whānau are at the centre of decision-making.
She also recognises that grief often begins long before death, and that the support Hospice provides extends beyond the patient, to the wider whānau both during care and in the months that follow.
“I know that our nurses, and everybody else within our team, is contributing to giving absolute top-notch care to our community. And that, to me, is important above anything else.”
We are incredibly grateful to have Anna leading our clinical team – bringing experience, leadership, and heart to every aspect of hospice care.