Guy's and St Thomas' celebrates its outstanding nurses and midwives

Nurses and midwives who have gone above and beyond for their patients and colleagues over the last year have been recognised at Guy’s and St Thomas’.

Now in its fifth year, the Trust’s annual Nursing and Midwifery Awards honoured 15 individuals and a team. The award ceremony took place virtually and included messages of support and inspiration from Ruth May, Chief Nursing Officer for England, and Jane Clegg, Joint Regional Chief Nurse for London.

Fenella Jolly, from the health inclusion team, won Community Nurse of the Year. The team delivers services for homeless people, refugees, asylum seekers and people with addictions. Fenella worked hard to ensure that the people she cares for were offered a COVID-19 vaccination.

Dan Wicks, who works in cardiovascular services, was named Matron of the Year. He volunteered to be redeployed to critical care during the second wave of the pandemic, and organised wellbeing sessions for his team.

Dani Adams, a clinical nurse specialist in Evelina London’s rheumatology team, received the Specialist Nurse of the Year award. She supports complex paediatric patients with inflammatory disorders and used new technology to monitor them at home during the pandemic. She is a role model for her young patients and some of them have said they want to be a nurse like her when they are older.

Nursing assistant/support worker of the year went to Anna Krawczyk who works in Royal Brompton’s Squire Centre – a cardiology day case unit where patients can usually arrive and go home on the same day that their procedure takes place. Anna helped to set up the day case unit when the Squire Centre launched in 2018. She has inspired others to take up a career in healthcare, having started as a cleaner before training to become a healthcare assistant. Anna now heads up a healthcare assistant team, leading on all aspects of care provided at the centre, a skillset which she continues to hone through ongoing leadership training.

Claire Kennard, who leads the antenatal and newborn screening team, was named Midwife of the Year. She was recognised for developing the service and supporting staff when new systems and pathways were implemented.

Team of the Year went to the COVID-19 vaccination team who helped with the design and day-to-day running of the vaccination centres. The team have acted as role models when training and managing new vaccinators, many who come from non-healthcare related backgrounds. Since the vaccination centres opened in December 2020, the team has helped to deliver more than 500,000 doses of the vaccine. 

Avey Bhatia, Chief Nurse at Guy’s and St Thomas’, said: “I am extremely proud of our outstanding nurses and midwives who have risen to the challenges we have faced over the last 18 months. They have delivered compassionate care to thousands of patients and their families so it’s really important to us that we recognise and celebrate their fantastic achievements.”

A huge congratulations to all of the award winners:

• Student nurse/midwife/nursing associate trainee of the year: Jessafer Fernandez
• Nursing assistant/support worker of the year: Anna Krawczyk
• Staff nurse of the year: Christine Mayiati
• Dental nurse of the year: Catherine Dumlao
• Midwife of the year: Claire Kennard
• Sister or charge nurse of the year: Debbie Pocock
• Cancer nurse of the year: Liz Frankson
• Specialist nurse of the year: Dani Adams
• Children's nurse of the year: Lauren McCann
• Matron of the year: Dan Wicks
• Community nurse of the year: Fenella Jolly
• Senior leadership award: Debbie Mundle
• Rising star of the year: Hassan Koroma
• Team of the year: COVID-19 vaccination team
• The Nightingale Fellowship Award: Georgina Crew
• Chief Nurse Award: Samantha Salaver