The newly-qualified nurses and midwives

Nurses and midwives celebrate graduation at badge ceremony

NEWLY-QUALIFIED nurses and midwives who carried out their training with Hampshire Hospitals got the chance to celebrate their achievements at a special ceremony hosted by the trust.

 

A total of 30 nurses and midwives marked their graduation from students to qualified staff at the trust’s annual badge ceremony, which was held at The Ark, Basingstoke.

 

Every year, the Trust presents graduates from the University of Surrey, University of Southampton, Bournemouth University and The Open University with a Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust badge that they will wear on their uniform for the rest of their career to show where they trained.

 

28 of the graduates, who included newly-qualified and return to practice nurses and midwives, are now working at one of the trust’s three hospitals, Andover War Memorial Hospital, Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital and Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Winchester.

 

Donna Green, Hampshire Hospitals’ chief nurse, hosted the event and spoke of her pride at seeing the students become fully qualified.

 

This is a lovely occasion and I am a very proud chief nurse tonight, she said. As your training hospital, we want to be the first to congratulate and celebrate with you. This is just the beginning of an exciting journey and we wish you well in a long, happy and rewarding career.

 

As well as their families, friends and colleagues, the graduates were also joined by The Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane, Cllr Jane Frankum, the Mayor of Winchester, Cllr Jane Rutter, members of the board and governors of the trust.

A number of special awards were announced on the night, with Amy Foster winning The Taverner Award for the exceptional Student Nurse of the Year.

 

Amy, who is from Andover, was praised for having the confidence to initiate patient care, while the most telling testimony came from a patient, who said:

 

She is kind, patient and helpful. She makes you feel like you are the only patient in the department.

 

Amy said:

I was shocked and happy when it was announced that I had won. I knew that I had been nominated, but I did not expect to win.I loved doing my training in the coronary care unit at Basingstoke hospital and it has really set me up for my career.

 

Alison Tait was named as the nursing Mentor of the Year for her work with students on Northbrook Ward, the children’s ward at RHCH.

 

Emilie Bennison and Trudy Balfe from the midwifery team at Basingstoke hospital, enjoyed a double celebration. Having nominated each other for the Student of the Year and Mentor of the Year, both came out on top.

 

Emilie received an impressive six nominations, with both midwives and doctors putting her up for the award.

 

She was praised as “an excellent student midwife, both clinically and academically. She is sympathetic, empathetic and an excellent team member.”

 

Emilie, who trained at Basingstoke hospital, is now a qualified member of the maternity team.

 

I was really pleased to win the award, she said. I certainly didn’t expect it. I really enjoyed training at Basingstoke. It’s a lovely unit, with a lot of really progressive midwives.

 

Trudy obviously had a big impact on the student midwives she supervised, with comments including:  “I immediately knew that I wanted to be a midwife like her” and “I can only hope that this midwife is one day my midwife.”

 

 Student Nurse of the Year Amy Foster with chief nurse Donna Green
Student Nurse of the Year Amy Foster with chief nurse Donna Green
Midwifery Student of the Year Emilie Bennison with Mentor of the Year Trudy Balfe
Midwifery Student of the Year Emilie Bennison with Mentor of the Year Trudy Balfe

 

Photo:  The newly-qualified nurses and midwives


 

 

 

 

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