Initially portrayed as lazy and idle, Jade's characterisation develops as she is shown to be an independent, caring and compassionate young woman.

The story culminates in the special episode "Jade's World", written, directed and starring deaf creatives in a first for British history.

The episode sees Jade meet her biological mother, Susie Ashby (Sophie Leigh Stone), who she learns is also deaf.

The character's reasons for becoming a nurse were explored in the show's thirty-sixth anniversary, followed by a revenge plot against Jade from Stevie Nash (Elinor Lawless).

Leon opted to leave Casualty after three years and Jade departs in the thirty-sixth series episode "The Road Less Travelled", first broadcast on 18 September 2021.

In August 2018, Casualty series producer Lucy Raffety announced the casting of actress Gabriella Leon in the role of student nurse Jade, in an interview with Sophie Dainty of entertainment website Digital Spy.

[11] Leon thought that writers had established a "fun role for a young woman", which she liked as it showcased female voices and stories about women.

[6] Reflecting on her own experience as Jade, Leon was pleased that women in soap were given more of a central stage, rather than being secondary to the stories of male characters.

Series producer Loretta Preece explained that they wanted to draw attention to the issue and was pleased they could so through Jade, who she deemed "a very important character to the show".

[8][7] Established character Louise Tyler (Azuka Oforka), a senior staff nurse, meets Jade after she arrives at work late and then has a nap on a hospital bed.

[10][19] Louise recognises Jade's nursing potential and offers her the chance to change her placement to the hospital's emergency department (ED).

[4] Jade begins her placement in the ED alongside fellow student nurse Marty Kirkby (Jafargholi) and they are mentored by Louise.

[22] Writers paired Jade with Marty as a double act tackling their first months working in the ED,[3] and used them as light relief for the show's serious storylines.

[22] Harper thought that they made a "brilliant, comic partnership",[3] and Raffety opined that Jade and Marty would bring "a whirlwind of life and fun" to the ED.

[29][32] She is upset and annoyed that Marty has not told her about his past and when his father, Graham Kirkby (Philip Wright), calls, she invites him to the award ceremony.

[44] The plot was revisited in subsequent episodes as Jade has to juggle between working on the maggot therapy project and helping treat a deaf patient.

[48] Staff nurse David Hide (Jason Durr) agrees to provide a reference and asks Charlie to do the same, but he refuses, having had another confrontation with Jade.

[13] Malc is also deaf and the episode includes scenes only featuring British Sign Language (BSL), with subtitles on-screen for non-BSL speakers.

[64][65] Swinbourne told Michael Pickard of Drama Quarterly that he wanted to highlight how being deaf "shifts everything" and is not just about a lack of hearing or struggling to lipread.

[5] Leon told the Radio Times' Helen Daly that during the writing process, there was "a wonderful open diaglogue [...] that always had Jade's experience of the world present at its forefront".

[69] Leon told Inside Soap's Alice Penwill that Jade cannot what she is experiencing, which she thought was reflective of women's real life experiences.

[34] The actress felt proud of her achievements whilst on the drama, namingly becoming the first regular character with a disability and increasing representation of deaf people on mainstream television.

[58] In 2022, the show was nominated in the Best Soap and Continuing Drama category at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards, accredited in part to the focus on Jade and her disability.

[13] In 2020, Reilly wrote that since her debut, "the junior nurse has defied the odds to become one of the team's most valuable and compassionate members, as well as a favourite with Casualty fans.

"[90] Upon joining the cast of Casualty, actress Jacey Salles (Rosa Cadenas) praised the character of Jade, calling her "really interesting".

[18] Brown (Radio Times) disliked Jade and Dylan's maggot therapy plot, calling it "gross",[92] and was disappointed when it was revived.

[93] Charlotte Tutton of the Daily Mirror observed that viewers were "repulsed" over the maggot scenes and found themselves "put off watching the show".

[94] Shaun Linden from ATV Today named the episode featuring Jade meeting Nigel one of their television highlights of the day.

[25] She added that Jade's decision to lock Marty in a cupboard "ended predictably badly",[25] and was critical about writers placing them at odds as she disliked their "annoying squabbling".

[96] Graham (Radio Times) called Jade and Marty the "two very annoying new nurses",[97] and thought they were examples of "abysmal" discipline towards the ED's staff.