Double award win at Wales' top Nurse of the Year Awards
19/12/2024
Two pioneering staff members from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board have won their category at this year’s Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Wales Nurse of the Year Awards.
Joanne Davies, Falls and Bone Health Service Lead, won the Community and Primary Care Nursing Award. Joanne has delivered a transformational approach within the falls service maximizing opportunities for the whole of primary care to be equipped with the knowledge, resources and confidence to help embed ‘Right care, right place, first time’ approach.
Joanne is a keen advocate for falls to become everyone’s business and has initiated a falls bundle aimed at best practice to help safer independent living, as well as for those in the care home settings.
Jo said: “It is a huge privilege to be working within the falls services as the driving factor is to continuously seeks ways to improve safer independent living. The success has been very much part of the combined efforts with falls services across North Wales.
“Special thanks go to the RCN who have driven the ‘Nurse of the Year’ highlighting the broad spectrum of innovations across Wales.”
In 2018 the falls service was extended across Wrexham and Flintshire and in 2021 Joanne had the vision to improve communication, the patient journey and offered primary care training to offer an holistic assessment.
Jo has also developed a falls register dashboard, enabling multi-professions to see what the patient has been offered. The register reduces duplication and can prevent people being on lengthy waiting lists.
In 2022 the impact of Jo’s collaborative working across North Wales led to 51% less Emergency department attendances, and 62% less ambulance conveyance.
Read more about Fall prevention here.
Katie Moore, Registered Nurse, won the Child Award category, for her dedicated and inspirational work as a children’s nurse and health visitor.
Katie joined the Early Years CAMHS team as a pilot project to build on the integration between Early Years CAMHS and Health Visiting, which aimed to enhance the provision of early years mental health and parent-infant relationship support across the East area. This post has become an established and essential role within the Early Years provision.
Katie said: "I am deeply honoured and humbled to receive the award for Wales Children's Nurse of the Year. It is not just for me, it also belongs to the incredible teams I have had the privilege to work with over the last 24 years.
“Nursing and Health Visiting are not solitary roles, they thrive on collaboration, compassion and the shared commitment to improving lives. We hold the value that every interaction holds purpose and meaning. Being a Health Visitor with the Early Years CAMHS team means I am able, alongside my colleagues, to support young children and their families at the most crucial stage of their lives.
“Early childhood is the foundation on which physical, emotional and mental health are built. Our service has a shared mission to prioritise early support and this collective effort inspires me every day. Being recognised by Sarah Jones, Service Manager for Health Visiting, has validated my hard work and affirms the substantial impact the Early Years CAMHS and Health Visiting teams are having on the community we support."