Search on to find Northern Ireland’s top nurse

Organised by the RCN, this is the seventeenth year of the awards which are designed to recognise and reward excellence in the nursing profession. This year’s ceremony will be held on 6 June 2013 at the Culloden Hotel, Holywood.

Current Nurse of the Year, Claire Galloway, clinical lead nurse for sexual health with the Northern Health and Social Care Trust, received the award for transforming and modernising the trust’s sexual health service, improving its performance, and increasing access for patients.

Janice Smyth, Director of the RCN in Northern Ireland said: “The aim of the RCN Northern Ireland Nurse of the Year Awards is to highlight the contribution that nurses make to patient care and the developments and innovations they are leading to improve it.

“Over the past 17 years we have seen outstanding examples of nurses developing services for patients that make a real difference to improving the health of the local community.

“Nurses work extremely hard to provide a high level of care to patients, often within pressurised environments, and are playing a leading role in developing our health services. At a time when the provision of health care is undergoing change, nurses are continuing to work hard to provide safe and effective care. More than ever, this is a time to show our appreciation and to recognise and reward excellence in nursing.

“The awards are also an important opportunity for the public to show how much they value the care they receive. Any member of the public can nominate a nurse or health care assistant they feel has made a special contribution to their care, or to the care of a friend or family member, for the Patient’s Choice Award.

“We are delighted to welcome a new award this year supported by Niamh (the Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health).The Mental Health Innovation Award aims to reward innovative work to improve mental health services and support within communities.

“As well as the main Northern Ireland Nurse of the Year Award, other categories include the Chief Nursing Officer’s Award for patient safety, Bamford Vision Award for mental health and learning disability, Public Health Award, Team Manager Award and Health Care Support Worker Award. The Transforming Care with Technology Award rewards quality and excellence in the use of tele-monitoring and tele-health to improve care for patients while pre-registration nursing students can apply for the Student Award and post-registration students for the Nursing Research Award.

“A special award to recognise outstanding achievement in the nursing profession in Northern Ireland will also be presented.

“Nurses deserve to be recognised for the very valuable contribution they make to our health care and I would encourage nurses throughout Northern Ireland to consider nominating colleagues for the awards.”

Application forms for all categories are available from the RCN by telephoning 028 90 384 600 or can be downloaded online at www.rcn.org.uk/northernireland . The closing date for entries is January 31.