Awards Recognise Dedicated Mental Health And Learning Disability Nurses, Wales

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 20 Mar 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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Health Minister Edwina Hart praised Mental Health and Learning Disability Nurses from across Wales for their hard work and dedication at the Annual Mental & Learning Disability Nursing Awards for Wales.

The annual event, which is its third year, attracted more than 50 nominations in nine categories.

The 2007/2008 winners are:

-- Best Nurse-led Project (Mental Health) - Annie Llewellyn-Davies, Newport Local Health Board, for developing a nurse-led mental health and screening service for Asylum Seekers in Newport;

-- Best Nurse-led Innovation in Learning Disability services - Penny Tomlinson and Alison Corfield, North East Wales NHS Trust, for their project aimed to support women with a Learning Disability to make informed choices about breast and cervical screening;

-- Best Contribution to In-patient Care (Mental Health) - Llwyn-y-Groes Psychiatric Unit, North East Wales NHS Trust, for the implementation of several initiatives to improve the service user's experience of care within the unit;

-- Best Learning Disability Residential/In-patient Nurse - Sarah Dudley, Pembrokeshire and Derwen NHS Trust, for her pivotal role in the development of a confident, competent and skilful clinical team which provides high quality care to a vulnerable and complex group of individuals;

-- Best Healthcare Assistant (Mental Health) - Steve Ord, North West Wales NHS Trust, for his contribution to the substance misuse service which takes many guises such as advocate, trainer and facilitator;

-- Best Mental Health Nurse (Older Person's Care) - Del Payne, Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust, for fully implementing the Fundamentals of Care as a means of improving the patients experience and enhancing standards of care through the implementation of Dementia Care Mapping evaluations in the Ward;

-- Best Learning Disability Community Nurse - Anne Phillips, Pembrokeshire and Derwen NHS Trust, for being the leading and driving force in the development and maintenance of high quality services for people with learning disabilities and epilepsy in Carmarthen;

-- Best Mental Health Nurse Leader - Joy Jones, Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust, for being the vanguard of developing services for people with eating disorders and their families; and,

-- Award for Career-long Achievement (Mental Health) - Maureen Giles, Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust, for showing exceptional and sustained achievement over a 38 year career based at Whitchurch Hospital, Cardiff.

Presenting the Awards, Edwina Hart, said: "Often the work of mental health nurses and learning disability nurses gets overlooked, but they have an important role to play in the health service.

"The awards recognise the significant contribution that nurses are making to modernising our mental health and learning disability services.

"They aim to encourage the development of innovative, nurse-led initiatives within NHS services.

"I would like to congratulate all the nominees and winners at today's awards. These awards confirm that mental health and learning disability nursing in Wales is something that we should value and be very proud of."

The Chief Nursing Officer for Wales, Rosemary Kennedy, said: "Mental Health Nurses and Learning Disability Nurses provide valuable help and support to some of the most vulnerable people in Wales. These awards showcase the excellent and innovative work that is going on across Wales to continually improve and provide high-quality care for patients."

Health Minister Edwina Hart presented the awards to nurses at an event at the All Nations Centre, Cardiff on Thursday, 13 March.

The Chief Nursing Officer for Wales, Rosemary Kennedy and the Director of Mental Health, Phil Chick, spoke at the event on the importance of mental health nursing and the challenges that lie ahead in mental health services and learning disability nursing.

A panel of four judges selected the winners. Two of the judges were senior mental health nurses independent of both the NHS in Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government. The other judges were a service user and a carer, both of whom are resident within Wales.

Welsh Assembly Government
http://www.wales.gov.uk