Frenchay nurses scoop two regional awards.
10 July 2015

Frenchay BIRU scoops two awards at ceremony celebrating nurses returning to practice

July 2015. Shelley Hart, Staff Nurse and Debbie Pinches, Nurse Manager from Frenchay Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre in Bristol were recognised by NHS organisation, Health Education South West, at an awards ceremony in Taunton on 8 July 2015. Two nurses at Frenchay beat stiff competition to win two of the six regional awards presented at the ceremony. Frenchay’s Shelley Hart received the award for returnee to practice for the Bristol, North Somerset, Somerset and South Gloucestershire area and Debbie Pinches received a very special award for the being the most Inspirational Mentor in the South West region.

To celebrate the first anniversary of this NHS initiative, an awards ceremony was held by Health Education South West to celebrate the achievements of the 170 professionals who have now returned to work and the organisations that supported them on the flexible refresher course. Health Education South West is an NHS organisation responsible for the planning, development, education and training of the healthcare and public health workforce for the South West region.

Alison Woods, Centre Manager at Frenchay Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre, said: “We are currently part-way through a major expansion to our service and I did not think that taking on Return to Practice students was something we could contemplate at the present time. Debbie, our nurse manager, persuaded me through her passion for training that there would be more benefits than negatives and Shelley has proved to be the best student we’ve ever had! She’s a real star who is a shining example of how to deliver compassionate care.

I was so pleased that Debbie received an award for her mentorship of Shelley – the first award of its kind! It is thoroughly deserved as she has been so positive and passionate throughout Shelley’s training and she has shown our team here at Frenchay the benefits of embracing learning and influencing the standard of training of our students.”