The Minister presented Karen with the Royal College of Nursing’s NI Nurse of the Year Award at a ceremony in Belfast.
Karen, who works at the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald, recognised the particular needs of children with allergic disease and identified the need for a nurse, working within a multi-disciplinary team, to provide high-quality, evidence based care.
Her pioneering work has been recognised at a regional level and Karen is now a member of the Regional Planning Committee for Paediatric Allergy Services in Northern Ireland and the Regional Paediatric Respiratory Committee.
Congratulating Karen on her success, Michael McGimpsey said, “I have been hugely impressed by the quality of all the nominees tonight, but a special mention must go to the innovation and effort that Karen Orr has shown. Through the introduction of a specialised service for children with allergic conditions she has made a real and lasting difference to the quality of children’s lives.
“Our highly skilled nursing workforce, demonstrate everyday how they put patients first. Their care, compassion and dedication for the people in their care is exemplary – often under difficult circumstances. This level of care has certainly been demonstrated in the quality of the all nominees and recipients in each category.
“Our nursing workforce is at the forefront of care delivery. I would like to thank and commend all our nurses for the service they deliver on a daily basis.
“In particular, I would also like to pay tribute to Kate O’Hanlon on receiving the Outstanding Achievement Award. This award is in honour of Kate’s distinguished career as a Sister in the Accident & Emergency Department at the Royal Victoria Hospital during very dark times, and I would like to offer you my personal congratulations.”
Notes to Editors:
1. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), Northern Ireland Nurse of the Year Awards is now in its eleventh year and are an established benchmark of excellence. The awards were presented by UTV’s Linda Bryans.
2. Other awards presented on the night were:
Student Award – Joint-Winner – Lisa Crossan
Lisa is a third year student at the Magee Campus of the University of Ulster. She was nominated for her work in promoting healthy eating initiatives amongst clients with a learning disability.
Student Award – Joint-Winner – Helen McParland
Helen has been nominated for the Student Award on the basis of a project that she undertook during her nursing studies to assess and evaluate the care of children with complex needs.
Nursing Research Award Winner – Dr Assumpta Ryan
Dr Ryan is from the University of Ulster at Coleraine and was nominated for her exploration of rural family carers’ experiences of the nursing home placement of an older relative. Her research considered the impact of the placement on the older person, the family carer, the carer-relative relationship and the extended family.
Team Manager Award Winner – June Cairns
June is the ward manager of the Rehabilitation Unit at Lagan Valley Hospital. Under June’s leadership the Unit has seen great improvements in morale amongst staff, a reduction in the number of complaints, the creation of a safe and clean ward environment and the growth of patient satisfaction levels. June’s nominator refers to her “as an example to others of what can be achieved with drive, commitment, enthusiasm and overall a sense of wanting to make things better and safer for the patients to whom we provide care”.
Patient’s Choice Award Winner – Mary Mackle, Barbara McAdam & Faith Farrell
Mary, Barbara and Faith have been nominated by Aisling and Patrick, the parents of Ronan, a baby boy who, tragically, was born with a life-limiting condition. Ronan spent his first two months of life undergoing investigations at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children but Aisling and Patrick were anxious for him to be cared for closer to home. Mary, Barbara and Faith worked with colleagues to ensure that Ronan could be transferred to the children’s ward at Craigavon Area Hospital. They came to the family home to care for Ronan at night, thus making it possible for him to spend his last two weeks at home. These night shifts were undertaken in addition to their full-time work at the hospital. Paying tribute to the care and dedication demonstrated by Mary, Barbara and Faith, Aisling says: “Words cannot express how grateful we are to these three excellent, amazing, caring nurses. They will always be a part of our family. When they were on duty, we were comforted, knowing Ronan couldn’t be in better hands. They gave us the gift of having our son home, which comforts us now that he is gone”.
Outstanding Achievement Award Winner – Kate O’Hanlon, OBE
The winner of this year’s Outstanding Achievement Award, sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim, is Kate O’Hanlon, OBE. She made an exceptional contribution to nursing in Northern Ireland during some of the darkest days of the Troubles as a Sister in Accident & Emergency at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. She was also responsible with some of her colleagues for setting up the RCN Northern Ireland Accident and Emergency Nurses Forum, and held the post of chair for many years.
Nurse of the Year Joint-Runner-Up – Caroline Malone
Caroline is a Ward Manager in the Regional acquired brain injury unit at Forster Green Hospital and has been nursing brain-injured patients since 1985. She started to notice the effect that such tragic events had on the brothers and sisters of young people who had sustained a brain injury. She initiated a project to investigate the needs of these siblings and the outcome was a booklet, Forever Different. Its impact has been dramatic. A post-project evaluation has shown that young people no longer report feelings of isolation, loneliness or misunderstanding.
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