Mar 16, 2021
On Monday 8th March, the British Journal of Nursing (BJN) celebrated outstanding nursing care at its 23rd awards ceremony, which took place virtually. The ceremony was hosted by Dr Ranj Singh and editor, Sophie Gardner.
Healthcare professionals were awarded for tackling continence issues, excelling in intravenous therapy, delivering exceptional nutritional support, improving patient care in urology, and responding to the challenges in respiratory care. They were also recognised for making outstanding contributions in the fields of chronic oedema, gastrointestinal nursing, hepatology, infection prevention and mental health. Nurses working in oncology, kidney care, stoma care and wound care were also awarded for putting patient care at the heart of their role, inspiring other colleagues and helping drive the profession.
The Nurse of the Year was awarded to Gerri Mortimore and and Yvonne Francis. Gerri and Yvonne worked extremely hard, for several years, to bring about the publication of the Venesection best practice guidelines in 2020. These guidelines have assisted in standardising the care of thousands of patients every year.
The prestigious Lifetime Achievement award went to Nola Ishmael, OBE, who has played a massive part in shaping and influencing health and care provision globally, in the UK and regionally. She remains passionate about improving health services, with a clear focus on fairness and equity for all – those who use services and those who provide them. Born in Barbados, she moved to in England aged 20 and trained as a nurse at the Whittington Hospital, London. In 1987, she became Assistant Director of Nursing in Greenwich, and later, Director of Nursing, being the first black person to hold the post in London. In 1994, she joined the Department of Health, advising on policy, and a year later she became the Chief Nursing Officer’s private secretary, cracking that glass ceiling that many BAME nurse still face today. In 2000, she justifiably received an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for her services to nursing. In 2006 she was included in a National Portrait Gallery exhibition that depicted 16 outstanding women and men who have been influential in shaping healthcare in England.
The BJN Awards were followed by a week-long celebration of nursing accomplishments and innovations from 8th-12th March. BJN’s Awards Week featured interviews from all of our winners where they discussed their award-winning work, and shared their experiences to inspire others to introduce changes to their own practice. Each day of the Week also featured important educational updates on a variety of specialist topics (including Stoma Care, Urology and IBD Nursing) to keep nurses up-to-date with the latest developments in their field.
The 2021 BJN Awards Week has also been positively backed and supported by industry too, with various sponsors of the different award categories. The sponsors were also an active part of the week, providing educational webinar sessions for our audiences following the ceremony
A full list of the winners can be found here: https://www.bjnawards.co.uk/winners
To find out more about BJN Awards week please visit https://www.bjnawards.co.uk/bjn-awards-week