NHS Shetland recognises award winners

Kathleen Carolan is the director of nursing and acute services for NHS Shetland.

Work done by NHS Shetland over the last year has been celebrated in a presentation today (Monday) at a virtual event. 

Eleven projects showcasing improvements that have been presented to colleagues, the board and the media for the annual celebrating excellence in care awards.

Categories included practice education, innovation in practice, person centred care, prevention and impact of partnership and any improvement. 

Trainee assistant practitioner, Katherine Umphray won an award for practice education. 

For innovation in practice Dawn Smith, deputy director of acute care; Gai Walls, ophthalmology specialist nurse; Andrea Sherwood, pre-operative assessment nurse and Joanna Orlowski, CDU supervisor on behalf of her team were given the award. 

Other winners included Michelle Hankin for person centred care, Rhona McArthur and Karen Tekin for prevention and Margarita Nesbit for her work to offer specialist diagnostic tests not previously available locally.

Mrs Carolan said the quality of the improvement work had been of such a high standard that

it had been be a “very difficult decision” for the panel to decide the winners. 

She said: “A common theme in many of the presentations was that teams in Shetland were leading the way in Scotland with lots of examples where we are developing new ways of working that other health boards could learn from. 

“This shows the boldness and bravery of our teams to break new ground and be innovative”.