Nurse accepts award for helping families after Manchester Arena bombing

A bereavement nurse specialist who helped families in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing has accepted a national award on behalf of emergency and medical services colleagues.

Laura Prescott was part of a team of nurses from greater Manchester who were based at a hotel supporting families that had been bereaved or were still waiting anxiously for news of missing loved ones in the wake of the bombing in May.

Ms Prescott, who works at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, was one of eight women invited to London this month to receive the Barclays Women of the Year Award on behalf of Manchester's emergency and medical services.

Casualties

She collected the award from Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, alongside fellow nurse Shobna Manesh, a scrub practitioner at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, as well as police, ambulance and medical colleagues.

A total of 22 people died and more than 100 were injured in the suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert.

The injured were treated at a number of hospitals across greater Manchester, including the Royal Bolton Hospital where Ms Prescott works.

Ms Prescott told Nursing Standard she had been in her post for less than 12 months at the time of the blast.

Close to home

‘I heard about the bomb on the radio,' she recalls. ‘I thought it was a bit close to home – I’ve taken my young daughters to concerts at the arena.

‘But I never imagined I would come to work the next day and be asked to go on wards where the injured were.'

One of her first jobs was to help patients locate their families or get in contact with worried relatives. She and her colleagues also relieved other nursing colleagues to enable them to take breaks.

Ms Prescott’s work continued for two weeks, moving outside of the hospital and to a hotel where a number of affected families were staying.

Responsibility

‘Initially, when I was going to work with patients on the wards, I was running on adrenaline. You didn’t have time to think, you just go on autopilot.

‘When I was supporting families in the hotel I was so immersed, and obviously it was all over the news. You felt a great responsibility to comfort the families.

‘It was important to know they felt safe and that we were there to shelter them from everything that was going on outside.'

She added: ‘I feel immensely proud of what we did. To see everybody come together, I just feel proud to be a member of the trust.’

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