There is no back up for Lorraine Dickson. Her ‘patch’ as a nurse practitioner in continence care in rural Australia is huge by UK standards. If she takes time off, she always returns to a lengthy list of clients seeking appointments. But, as she tells Daniel Allen, long days and long drives are rewarded by the excitement of seeing lives transformed

LORRAINE DICKSON has led an eventful life. Since training as a nurse in Sydney in the 1970s she has married a Vietnam veteran, been forced from her home by a cyclone, worked in a prison, run a shop in a remote part of Australia and taught English to health workers in Hanoi. She has also studied for three degrees, and the finishing line for her professional doctorate is now in sight.