Anne and Tracey recognised at Nurse of the Year Awards

Anne and Tracey recognised at Nurse of the Year Awards

20 June 2018

TWO local nurses have won awards at this year’s Royal College of Nursing Nurse of the Year Awards held at the Culloden Hotel in Holywood.

Raffrey’s Anne Phillips jointly won the Patient’s Choice Award alongside Mary Kane, from Ballycastle, while Leitrim’s Tracey Steenson, who works at the Downe Hospital, won the chief nursing officer’s award.

Anne is a community psychiatric nurse in the South Eastern Trust and works out of Crossgar. 

She was nominated by a patient who, in her own words, suffers from borderline personality disorder, depression and anxiety. 

Every day was a challenge and, eight years ago, the patient tried to end her life. At that point, Anne became her community psychiatric nurse and has since transformed her life. 

The patient described how Anne went above and beyond her role to help her lead a normal life, something that she thought she would never be able to do. 

While the patient has been discharged from Anne’s care, she is still able to call her when she feels depressed or anxious.

“I just have to pick up the phone and Anne is there for me,” said the patient. “She’ll call with me day or night and usually one visit gets me on the right path again. Anne’s literally been my lifesaver and I can never thank her enough.”

Tracey, who is based at the Downpatrick hospital, is rapid response co-ordinator in the South Eastern Trust area.

She was nominated for her work with the iron deficiency anaemia clinic that treats patients in community clinics closer to home, avoiding repetitive blood transfusions which can take up to five hours each. 

Piloted in the Down area, suitable patients now receive intravenous iron infusions rather than blood transfusions, resulting in an overall reduction in treatment time from 980 hours to 49. 

This has reduced the need for emergency department admission, the risk to patients is reduced and significant financial savings have been made.

Other award winners on the night included Roisin Devlin, the South Eastern Trust’s emergency department lead nurse based at the Ulster Hospital.

She was nominated for her leadership of the three emergency departments across the health trust — including the one at the Downe Hospital —  through a period of significant change. 

Roisin introduced a new key performance indicator for monitoring pain relief and has prioritised meeting the needs of older people attending emergency departments through a range of initiatives. Key performance indicators have improved significantly as a result of the measures Roisin has introduced.

The RCN’s Northern Ireland Director, Janice Smyth, paid tribute to all the prizewinners, explaining the annual awards are now in their 22nd year.

“This year’s awards have highlighted some of the best examples of nursing practice. Despite the wider health service continuing to face challenges, particularly during this period where there is a vacuum in political leadership, it is important to recognise and value the excellent care nurses provide to the people of Northern Ireland,” she said.

“Through these awards we have seen several examples that show clearly the contribution that nursing is making to health service transformation in Northern Ireland. I am extremely encouraged by the excellence and innovation shown by our finalists who are a credit to the nursing profession.”