Community nurses and health visitors recognised for exceptional work

Exceptional community nurses and health visitors from across the UK were celebrated at an annual awards ceremony. 

The 2016 Community Practitioners' and Health Visitors' Association (CPHVA) awards took place in London last week (April 8).

Josephine Fee, a specialist safeguarding children’s nurse from the Rusholme Health Centre in Manchester, was named as the leader of the year.

Her nomination said she is an ‘unsung hero’ and that she has been 'an ambassador for supporting marginalised and vulnerable groups in society’.

It added: 'She is like a whirlwind and her energy and passion is contagious.' 

Amanda Hulse, a specialist community public health practitioner in school nursing from Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, was named school nurse of the year. 

She was praised for her passion, hard work and determination, and for raising the morale of school nurses and health visitors with whom she works. 

The community nursery nurse of the year was Aleksandra Dackiewicz from the Laurels Healthy Living Centre in London. 

She was nominated for ‘always asking if there is more that she could do’.

Her nomination said: ‘She is always up for a challenge and also translates and works with most of the Polish families.’

Other winners included Janet Taylor, a nurse manager for the children’s service at South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She was named public health winner. 

It was the fourth year the awards have been held. The CPHVA is part of the Unite trade union.