Three of Livewell’s District nurses have been awarded the Queen’s Nurse Award for outstanding service.
Arielle Goodbourne, Hannah Blake, and Paula Ratcliffe have recently been honoured with the Queen’s Nurse Award title which highlights the exceptional contribution to patient care and the nursing profession.
The award is given to nurses who have worked in the community for more than five years and who recognise the commitment to high standards of patient care, learning, leadership and practice.
Arielle, Paula and Hannah will be attending an online ceremony on Monday, 13 December where they will be formally recognised for their contribution to nursing, and will also receive a special badge to show their new title.
Arielle, who has been a registered nurse for 12 years, and in the community for eight of those, said: “Since the very first day of community nursing, I knew the community setting was where I needed to be. I have always strived to provide quality care to my patients and support my colleagues in whatever way I can to help them achieve the same.
“I applied for the Queen’s Nurse title due to my passion for community nursing. I am excited to see where the title will take me and hope that I can use the benefits of networking with other like-minded colleagues to continue to improve the quality of care we provide.”
Paula who began her career in nursing as a Health Care Assistant before applying to complete her nursing degree said: “There is no better job to work alongside patients. You get to see so much more of the person behind the patient.
“About two years ago I was given the amazing opportunity to work with the lower limb service. It was the team here that inspired me to apply for my Queen’s Nurse. Their passion and commitment have been such an inspiration to me to enter the next phase of my career. I look forward to helping in the development of the service as part of my new Queen’s Nurse role.”
After starting her career in the community with the District nursing team, Hannah felt an immediate connection with the role that she was providing, and decided to pursue a career caring for people.
Hannah says: “When I joined our lower limb service on its first day of opening in 2018 I was in awe of the holistic and person-centred model of care being provided to the population of Plymouth and the surrounding areas.
“The collaborative approach involves professionals from Marjon University alongside specialist lower limb care provided in the patients’ community, ensuring that there is equal access to best practice and that a full holistic assessment is undertaken within two weeks in line with the National Wound Care Strategy Programme recommendations.
“I am hugely passionate about being able to provide innovative, best practice care to patients in a community setting. Furthermore, our service has recently been invited to become a first tranche implementation site for the NWCSP. This is a huge honour and I am excited for how our service can develop in the future to ensure we stay at the forefront of lower limb care, particularly as we integrate the Healthy.io SPOT app as part of advances in digital wound imaging.
“To be given the title of a Queen’s Nurse is an extraordinary honour and I am extremely fortunately to work alongside an incredible team at the lower limb service who support and motivate me to improve, share and develop my practice to ensure our patients are provided with excellent care within their community.”
