It was a night of celebration and recognition for nursing staff from across the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust at the annual Royal College of Nursing ‘Nurse of the Year’ awards. A host of Nurses were recognised for their dedication and commitment at the Culloden Hotel.
Nursing Governance Lead Cathy Armstrong was awarded winner of Public Health Award. Staff Nurse Emma Parker was joint winner for the Chief Nursing Rising Star Award and Macmillan Acute Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist Nicola Broom was a runner up for the Cancer Nurse Award.
Accolades at the reception were also awarded to Chief Nursing and Midwifery Information Officer Angela Reed who was a runner up for the Silverdale Leadership Award and Digital Practice Officer Rachel Belshaw who was a runner up for the Digital Innovation in Nursing Award.
Cathy practises as a clinical pathway nurse in unscheduled care and has developed and led the Care Navigator Project within the Emergency Department (ED) at the Ulster Hospital. Cathy has developed a referral pathway for unscheduled care that enables nursing and medical teams to refer to the service. The judging panel remarked how impressed they were with Cathy’s ‘firm commitment to tackling health inequalities.’
Emma began her nursing journey at the Downe Hospital in May 2022 and has been described as a ‘beacon of excellence and a shining light’. Her blend of empathy, expertise and humility has endeared her to patients and colleagues alike.
As a key lead within the Trust’s Acute Oncology Service, Nicola works tirelessly to ensure that the service advocates for patients who are acutely unwell due to the consequences of cancer, complications of treatment or who present as an emergency due to a previously undiagnosed cancer. The judging panel noted Nicola’s ‘passion for supporting and advocating on behalf of vulnerable patients.’
Angela has been to the forefront with the implementation of the new Regional encompass patient digital system across the South Eastern Trust, while flying the flag for nursing as a respected nurse leader. Angela has been described as a ‘dynamic, strategic leader and a strong advocate for nurses and nursing.’
Rachel robustly led the nursing and midwifery digital and information practice team in Barcode Medication Administration (BCMA), a process that involves scanning both the barcode on a patient’s identity wrist band and the barcode on the patient’s medication to confirm a match, or not. The judging panel recognised Rachel’s ‘professional approach, her transformative leadership style, approachability and enthusiasm for the BCMA project.’
Staff Nurse, Emma Parker said, “It was an absolute honour and privilege to be the joint winner of the Rising Star 2024 award. From the beginning of my career in Ward 2 at the Downe Hospital, I received so much support from my colleagues during my transition as a newly qualified Nurse. When I became a “Super User” for encompass, I felt it was my opportunity to give back, the saying is there is no “I” in team, there really isn’t! I would not have received this award without my amazing Manager and work colleagues.”
Chief Nursing and Midwifery Information Officer Angela Reed commented, “We had a fantastic evening with many great leaders and nurses in the room. It was a privilege to be nominated and to make it through to the final made it extra special. I’m delighted to be the runner up in the Leadership Award and we are very proud in the South Eastern Trust.”
The Executive Director of Nursing in the South Eastern Health Trust, Dr David Robinson said, ‘I am just so proud to witness so many nurses right across the Trust being rightly recognised for the fantastic work that they do every single day. They all show innovation, dedication, compassion and always put the patients they care for at the heart of everything they do. It is really important to take a moment to celebrate them and the difference they make to the lives of so many people.”
