A senior community staff nurse at Keswick Community Hospital has been awarded the prestigious title of Queen’s Nurse.
Lisa Pepper is one of seven community nurses from the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust who will receive the award at a ceremony in London in December.
The Queen’s Nurse award is a formal recognition that the person is part of a professional network of nurses committed to delivering high standards and patient centred care. Those who receive the award have to have worked for a minimum of five years in a community or primary care setting.
Lisa, who qualified as a nurse in 1998 and has been working in the Cumbrian community since 2002, said she was encouraged to apply by her past and present line managers and her senior colleagues.
“I was extremely humbled and very happy to be considered for this award from my managers and colleagues and to be informed that I have been awarded the Queen’s Nurse is nothing but a total honour,” she said. “I have worked in the community nursing team here in Keswick for the last 20 years and still feel it a privilege to provide community nursing care and serve my community in the most beautiful place in the world.
“My family were totally thrilled, especially my daughter who herself has just qualified as a registered nurse.
“I’m also extremely proud of my colleagues (Joely Bradley, Wigton District Nurse Team Lead; Laura Burns, Wigton Community Staff Nurse and Donna Hetherington, Wigton Community Staff Nurse) whom I work very closely with who have also been awarded the Queen’s Nurse.”
Jill Foster, chief nurse at NCIC, said: “We are so delighted that seven of the trust’s nurses have their hard work and achievements recognised by receiving the Queen’s Nurse title.
“The nurses are highly-competent and passionate professionals, which the Queen’s Nurse title demonstrates. They are an asset to NCIC, and I would like to take the opportunity to thank them for their dedication and compassion to our patients.”
The Queen’s Nurse Institute supports innovation and best practice, in order to improve care for patients. The title is available to individual nurses who have demonstrated a high level of commitment to patient care and nursing practice.
