CNO Ruth May presents silver award to Brundall Ward – photo supplied

 

NNUH staff have received prestigious awards from the Chief Nursing Officer for England.

Ruth May praised the “wonderful” teams during her first official visit to NNUH on 28 February where she presented three CNO awards, spoke to nurses and midwives and received a tour of the Older People’s Emergency Department.

Her highest accolade is the Gold Award, made in recognition of lifetime achievement – and she presented one of these to Toni Hardiman, Cardiology Specialist Nurse. Toni was among the first to develop specialist nurse-led clinics to proactively manage patients with Grown-up Congenital Heart Disease (GUCH) and influenced and led improvements nationally.

Only 15 Gold Awards have been presented nationally over the last 13 months.

Silver Awards recognise major contributions to patients and the profession – and, for the first time, Ruth presented one to a whole team to Brundall Ward for providing exemplary compassionate individualised care for every older person.

Mercy Mathai, Emergency Department staff nurse, was also a Silver Award winner in recognition of her outstanding commitment and dedication to ED and Children’s ED and the way she supports students and newly-qualified staff, finding time to create and encourage a positive and supportive multi-disciplinary learning environment.

Ruth also presented Tara Webster, Adult Acute Liaison Nurse, Learning Disabilities, with a Cavell Nurses’ Trust Star Award, made for going the extra distance in caring for patients or supporting colleagues.

“Congratulations to everyone who won an award today, which was an opportunity for us to share our pride in some amazing achievements. I have been able to say a personal thanks to staff who are going above and beyond and I have seen staff giving great care and have met some fantastic clinicians,” she said.

Professor Nancy Fontaine, NNUH Chief Nurse, said: “Awards are incredibly important – they are a way to recognise excellence and show what a brilliant profession this is. It was a huge privilege to welcome Ruth to NNUH and she was very impressed with the people she met and everything she saw. It made me feel very proud to lead such a fabulous team.”