‘A Caring Life’: Keith Cox OAM releases biography about nursing career at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital

A long-serving and decorated cancer nurse at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital has shared his lessons from a professional career spanning five decades.

After nearly 50 years in the nursing profession, Keith Cox OAM has shared his wisdom and lessons in a first-hand account of his long career at Royal Prince Alfred (RPA) hospital.

The book A Caring Life, written with former Daily Telegraph journalist Grant Jones, tells the story of Mr Cox’s upbringing, journey as a trainee nurse, his career in cancer care at RPA’s Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, through to his retirement in 2018 – and the people he met and lessons he learned along the way.

“I’ve always really enjoyed my life and what I did,” Mr Cox said. “If I got given the chance, I would do it all over again.”

Keith Cox OAM, leading and pioneering cancer nurse for more than 47 years, photographed at Chris O'Brien Life House in Camperdown. Picture: John Fotiadis

Mr Cox was awarded an OAM in 2007 for his work in nursing and the Keith Cox Clinical Fund aims to nurture the clinical staff of the future through providing financial support for further education.

Mr Cox’s purposeful and rich life was prime for documenting and Mr Jones, who Mr Cox knew from a previous article he’d done, thought it needed to be told.

“Colleagues said I had so many stories to tell that I should write a book,” Mr Cox said. “I can write a medical paper, but I wasn’t sure I could write a book.

“One day Grant rang and said he had a proposition: he wanted to write my biography and tell my story.”

Keith Cox (sitting) with Grant Jones, the co-author of the book and seasoned journalist. Picture: John Fotiadis

Mr Cox’s story bridges his upbringing in regional NSW through to his career as initially one of only a handful of male nurses at RPA, before his enduring work in oncology.

One of the things Mr Cox observed, and placed great importance on, was the human element of the profession.

“Some people find nursing mechanical,” he said.

“But with cancer you get to know the person very well, because they don’t just come in quickly for an operation.

“Always listening to people, a gentle hand on the shoulder, can really mean a lot – showing the patient you’ll be there for them.”

The profession, Mr Cox said, had changed a lot since he walked through the doors of RPA as a trainee nurse in 1970 – graduating as one of only three registered male nurses in 1978.

Keith Cox has dedicated his life to his profession and to his patients. Picture: John Fotiadis

“When I started nursing it was predominantly hospital-based in terms of training,” he said.

“It’s now a bit more university-based, and not that I think it should go back to solely hospital-based, but I think there needs to be a little bit more of a mixture.

“As a nurse you need to have empathy and patience, you need to listen to people, have a kindness and love that you can radiate onto people so they feel safe.”

One of Mr Cox’s enduring legacies is his work in the oncology field and helping patients fighting cancer. He studied specialised cancer nursing overseas and went on to make his name in a series of firsts in Australia in oncology and chemotherapy, first as a nursing supervisor, later as a nurse consultant and then, in 2006, as one of the first four cancer nurse practitioners.

Mr Cox remembers one patient suffering from the illness who asked him if she was dying, to which he told her the truth. She would die eight days later.

Keith Cox poses for a photograph at the Chris O'Brien Lifehouse in 2018, where he will have a sponsorship program named after him.

“That patient taught me so much in that time about death and dying, and how to die with dignity,” Mr Cox said.

“I carried that with me throughout my career: the need to remember to be truthful.”

Mr Cox loved his career, hospital and patients – and would do it all over again if he could. What would he say to the next generation of nurses now coming through the ranks after him?

“Going into nursing is one of the best things that you could do,” he said.

“You get to gain and use knowledge, it’s never mundane or boring.

“There’s always new things being discovered, especially in oncology and chemotherapy – there’s everlasting change.”

A Caring Life by Keith Cox and Grant Jones was released on April 26.

Originally published as ‘A Caring Life’: Keith Cox OAM releases biography about nursing career at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital