Carshalton community nurses lead the way in awards honouring nurse
Carshalton community nurses take home two out of three of this year’s Linda Udeagbala Awards for outstanding contribution to student nurse experience.
Linda Udeagbala, who was a nurse in Carshalton for over 12 years, sadly died from Covid-19 in February 2021. The awards were set up to pay tribute to her while recognising the work and commitment of teams and individuals in supporting and training future nurses, which Linda was so passionate about.
In recognition of Linda’s passion for teaching, Sutton Health and Care presented the second annual awards in her name on Wednesday 10 August.
The Carshalton Community Nursing Team took the lead winning not only the Community Team Award but Darren Smith, community nurse within the same team, was also honoured with the Individual Award for helping students to revise and apply theory to practise.
Nominated for going above and beyond to promote students’ learning and ensuring their needs were met with respect, these wins were particularly poignant for the Carshalton Community Nursing Team who worked alongside Linda every day.
Finally, Helen Carter, a diabetic nurse, won the Specialist Nurse Award for ‘outstanding’ teaching about different types of diabetes and management and being supportive.
Patricia Thompson, Operations Manager, Carshalton Community Nursing, said: “I am so proud of Darren and the Carshalton Community Nursing Team for winning two of the awards this year. Linda was an integral member of the Carshalton Primary Care Network Community Nursing Team, who we miss every day, and it is wonderful to see her passion for teaching live on through her colleagues.”
Lucy Botting, Director, Sutton Health and Care, said: “The whole of Sutton Health and Care were, understandably, devastated by Linda’s untimely death. With these awards we honour Linda’s dedication and commitment to training the community nurses of the future.
“The judging panel was thrilled to see the amazing feedback for a number of teams and individuals, making it a difficult choice, but ultimately each of our winners went above and beyond to ensure our students learning objectives were met.”
All students are given an evaluation form at the start of their placement with Sutton Health and Care and all forms submitted are assessed by a panel of judges.