Harrogate nurse’s delight at winning award for top performing district nursing student in the country

Posted on: Monday 15 Jul 2019

A Harrogate District Nurse has expressed her delight at winning a national award for the top performing district nursing student in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Specialist Practitioner District Nurse with Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust’s Harrogate North Community Care Team Rebecca Preece has been awarded the ‘Philip Goodeve-Docker Memorial Prize’ by the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) for ‘outstanding achievement as a District Nursing student’.

Rebecca has been awarded the prize for her time spent studying at Leeds Beckett University on the Community Specialist Practitioner – District Nursing postgraduate course. She completed her studies in September 2018, and has been one of two specialist practitioner district nurses in Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust’s Harrogate North Community Care Team since then. The course provides registered nurses with the opportunity to take on roles as a Specialist Practitioner District Nurse. The prize is awarded by the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI), and is offered to the top performing student of the District Nursing programme in every university in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Each university is invited to nominate a District Nurse student who has demonstrated the most outstanding achievement on their programme.

District nurses provide care to patients who are housebound or require treatment at home. They work collaboratively to deliver long and short term nursing interventions, rehabilitation and support the management of long term conditions. They also provide an important role in keeping hospital admissions and readmissions to a minimum.

Rebecca was nominated for the award by her course tutor based on her portfolio of work, which focused on reflective accounts of her experiences with patients and colleagues while on the course, including; time spent with senior colleagues, specialist nurses and conferences she attended.

Rebecca with her certificate after being awarded the Philip Goodeve-Docker Memorial Prize by the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI).

On winning the award, Rebecca said: “I was absolutely delighted to find out I had won the Philip Goodeve-Docker Memorial Prize, as it really recognises the time and effort I have put in to my portfolio and the course as a whole.

“As it’s only a one year course at postgraduate level, the studying element is full on and with two young children, plus doing clinical days with my practice team, it was a real rollercoaster of a year. However, the support I received from all of my colleagues, including the Ripon Community Care Team, was amazing.

“I’d like to thank Leeds Beckett University for putting me forward for the award, and I would recommend the course to all registered nurses. It was the hardest but most rewarding thing I have ever done!”

Rebecca’s graduation takes place this month, where she’ll be presented with the prize officially.

To find out more about Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust’s community care teams, visit https://www.hdft.nhs.uk/services/community-care-teams/. To find out more about the Philip Goodeve-Docker Memorial Prize, visit https://www.qni.org.uk/explore-qni/qni-awards/philip-goodeve-docker-memorial-prize/.

ENDS

Pictured: Rebecca with her certificate after being awarded the Philip Goodeve-Docker Memorial Prize by the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI).

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