Initially Hildegard qualified and worked in Germany, subsequently she qualified in both the USA and Great Britain where she married and continued her career. This gave her a broad perspective of health care in different cultures and areas of nursing from paediatrics, intensive care and community practice.

While working as a community nurse in London she became keenly aware of the physical and emotional suffering of patients with leg ulceration. This motivated her to take a special interest in the treatment and care of people with suffering from this condition. It lead her to undertake a trial investigating the effects short-stretch compression bandages have on venous leg ulcerations, which at that time were little known in the United Kingdom.

The trial produced a significant increased rate of healing among venous leg ulcer patients and dramatically improved their quality of life. As a result she initiated a specialist clinic and introduced this new type of compression bandaging throughout the PCT. Encouraged by this development she became motivated to further enhance her formal education culminating in a Doctorate.

Her dedication to clinical practice expanded into, teaching, audits, research both quantitative and qualitative, publications, professional societies, writing and implementing guidelines and service level agreements for various Primary Care Trusts.