Regional award success for Cornwall Primary Care Training Hub nurses

Congratulations to Emma Borders and Heather Taylor from Kernow Health’s Cornwall Primary Care Training Hub for their recent success at the Southwest General Practice Awards, an event organised by NHS England South West that recognises the outstanding work of community and general practice nurses.

Twelve awards were presented on 16 September at a black tie event in Exeter and we are delighted to report that of the 66 finalists, two Kernow Health nurses have been honoured. Emma Borders scooped the winner’s title for ‘patient centred innovation’ and Heather Taylor was awarded a highly commended in the same category. The award was for introducing a nurse-led project in general practice or in the community which has improved patient care.

Nurses trained to the highest standard

Emma was nominated by Paul Jeffrey, Strategic Lead for General Practice Nursing, for her recent redesign of immunisation and diabetes courses. Emma has produced hybrid resources and engaging delivery, ensuring nurses are trained to deliver the highest standard of care  alongside a suite of roadmaps and career and training pathways allowing staff to easily identify the appropriate training for their professional development.

Our ‘Primary Care Spotlight’ podcast is also produced and edited by Emma, which keeps staff up to date on current issues and features a whole range of guests and topics.

Speaking about the nomination, Paul said: “The work Emma has undertaken has had a massive impact on staff development, opening up career pathways, ensuring best practice, finding ways of providing accessible digital training solutions whilst maintaining availability of face-to-face support. With improved knowledge and skills comes higher levels of care for patients in primary care.

'Meets challenge with innovation'

“Emma is a General Practice Nurse (GPN) who constantly seeks to understand what will help her peers to deliver high-quality person centred care. She meets challenge with innovations, grounded in best practice and built for sustainability, utilising digital technology where this is possible. She is an ongoing source of support to GPN’s throughout Cornwall.

“For new GPN’s she has also supported her colleagues to develop Clinical Skills Coaching, one to one support, and to establish GPN Clinical Supervision groups across the county.”

Emma says it has been a privilege leading the development of the training programmes, adding: “Winning this award is a tremendous honour and I'm proud to have received this recognition for my work with the Cornwall Primary Care Training Hub.

In addition to this award, I’m honoured to have recently been awarded the Queen’s Nurse title by the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) in recognition of my dedication to patient care and nursing practice.

It was also a privilege to be nominated alongside my incredible colleague, Heather Taylor, who was highly commended in the same category for her outstanding work in diabetes. Her commitment to patient care and nurse education is inspiring, and I am honoured to work with her.”

'Unstoppable enthusiasm'

Paul also nominated Heather for the award, stating her “unstoppable enthusiasm for improving diabetes care through person-centred care in her practice work and an extended role with the training hub. Heather has been an ambassador for structured education in diabetes and has sought to promote this wherever she goes, appearing in podcasts and videos alongside patients to demonstrate the value of teaching effective self-management skills”.