Category Winners

This year’s Dettol Community Nurse of the Year 2005 Award goes to Nicola Bland, a district nurse from Upminster, Essex. She was the overall winner selected from one of the three category finalists. Nicola wins a £1,000 professional bursary, a European break for two, flowers and champagne. The category winners receive a £500 professional bursary, champagne and flowers.

Read about the two runners-up Category Winners below! Or click here to read about this year’s Winner!

Wendy Middleton
Winner of the Community Midwife Category

Wendy is a midwife working from the Bradford Royal Infirmary. She was nominated by one of her patients, Claire Jackson, for all the help and support Wendy gave her after the premature birth of her baby.

Claire believes she would never have got through such a difficult time without Wendy’s constant care and support. She understood her anxieties and was always there for when she needed to talk – nothing was too much trouble. Wendy is not only a fantastic person but also an excellent nurse who has been Claire’s rock.

Judges were impressed with Wendy’s support and dedication towards Claire after the birth of her son and throughout his treatment. The way in which she cared for her patient in such a sensitive and considerate manner, really set her apart from the other nominees.

After being presented with her prize, Wendy exclaimed: “This is like a dream for me, almost not real. I am so exited and absolutely delighted to have won this award.”

Wendy was presented with a £500 professional bursary, flowers and champagne.

Margaret Holtz
Winner of the Health Visitor Category

Margaret, a Health Visitor working in Wymondham, Norfolk was nominated by fellow nurse Barbara Small. Barbara is so proud of Margaret’s vision, determination and enthusiasm when single handedly setting up a Baby Café to promote breast-feeding in the area. Margaret didn’t just talk about the idea, against all the odds she set it up and got it working in record time.

The first of it’s kind in the Norfolk area, the Baby Café offers mums in the area free support and advice on breast-feeding. Margaret spent time outside her normal nursing hours working hard to get the initiative up and running. Barbara believes Margaret has gone beyond the call of duty in offering this essential support to new mums.

Judges were impressed by the work taken on by Margaret in getting such an initiative off the ground and believe that she thoroughly deserves recognition for her determination despite the barriers she would have faced. They also welcomed the fact that the Baby Café is now available to benefit mums throughout the community.

On being presented with her prize, Margaret, exclaimed: “I am absolutely delighted and so proud to win this award. This is a great reflection on all the hard work of my fabulous team!”

Margaret was also presented with a £500 professional bursary, flowers and champagne.

From the hundreds of entries there were many possible winners and consequently five commendations were awarded to nurses who it was felt deserved some recognition as they had far exceeded the call of duty - despite having not quite made it to the last three. The following nurses were selected for this.

Marilyn Weston – Community Nurse
The judges commended Marilyn for her work developing an education programme dedicated to training care home staff in diabetes care. They were impressed by her determination and success at gaining support from local GPs and creating a service that would both benefit the community and impact on government targets.

Julie Devine – Community Nurse
The judges felt that Julie had gone beyond the call of duty when she set up a Community Children's Nurses ‘on call’ service – all while still managing her own caseload. By establishing this valuable service despite funding and support issues, Julie’s work will benefit families throughout community.

Alison Rutherford – Health Visitor
Commended for the support given to a patient after the death of her baby, the judges believe Alison’s visits played an integral part in her patient’s long and painful journey coming to terms with her loss. Patient Cherylene, who nominated Alison, believes she is “worth her weight in gold.”

Frances Webb – Health Visitor
Frances was selected for a commendation for making such a difference to the mother of one of her patients after her son was diagnosed with a rare syndrome. The judges were impressed by the support and dedication Frances showed.

Amanda Mills – Health Visitor
Amanda was commended by the judges for her support and dedication towards both her young patient with Down’s Syndrome and his mother. They were also impressed by her dedication to helping others in addition to her work by fundraising for Down’s Syndrome awareness.