60 seconds with Community Nurse Award winner Anne Thomas

Outpatients staff nurse Anne Thomas says nurses should help patients manage their conditions in the community

Anne Thomas. Picture: David Gee

Staff nurse Anne Thomas won the RCNi Nurse Awards Community category for her health promotion outreach work supporting men in her rural community. She trained as a nurse and midwife in South London in the early 1980s. Moving to North Wales in 1985, she worked on Dolgellau Hospital’s medical ward before becoming a district nursing and community midwifery sister. She returned to Dolgellau’s midwifery unit in 1992 but was transferred to her current role in outpatients in 1998 after a diagnosis of epilepsy. She is married, with a son and daughter in their 20s.

What are your main work responsibilities? My core role is ensuring that outpatient clinics run smoothly, safely and efficiently, but we have developed as a health promotion hub, taking