Catherine Fitzsimmons has been given a BEM, or British Empire Medal, in the New Year's Honours List for 'Services to Nursing during the COVID-19 Response'...
Cath, who retired from the NHS in 2019 after 42 years and worked part time as Macmillan Quality Lead in the North West, was the first nurse to come out of retirement to return to the wards of Salford Royal Hospital where she supported the Palliative Care and Bereavement Teams throughout the pandemic.
Her amazing work included helping to deliver care at the bedside to those patients who were alone due to restricted visiting, developing a system for professionals to keep families informed and improving bedside communication in the form of letters, facetime and skype to keep families and patients connected.
"I felt that I couldn't sit at home during the pandemic whilst my colleagues were preparing for the unknown, hence I volunteered to return as a retiree" she says "Working with the Palliative Care Team enabled me to use my experience to support patients and families and carers in a very different environment to our norm and during the most distressing times for them.
"I felt very proud and honoured to be back nursing – it's what I love doing" she adds "I am honoured to be awarded a British Empire Medal, though I share this with each and every one of my extraordinary colleagues at the NCA [Northern Care Alliance] for their tremendous efforts throughout this year."
Cath is still working for the NCA part-time, supporting the Palliative Care and Bereavement Team at Fairfield General Hospital, and in the past has also been instrumental in many innovative service developments, including the first one stop shop service for breast care in 2005 at Salford Royal. She was also Macmillan Nurse Consultant in Breast Services and Macmillan Lead Cancer Nurse.
Cath was joined in the New Year's Honours List by fellow NCA health worker, Wendy Clapham, Assistant Director of Nursing Services for Critical Care, Outpatients and Pre-Operative Assessment at the Royal Oldham Hospital, who also received the BEM for Services to Nursing, particularly during the COVID-19 response, where she currently manages the nursing team in the Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Oldham Hospital.
"I am incredibly delighted for both Wendy and Cath who are both dedicated and long-standing members of the NCA family" says NCA Chief Executive Raj Jain "They entirely deserve this accolade and I hope it brings them and their families tremendous pride.
"The year 2020 has been our toughest yet and my colleagues across the NCA never fail to amaze me with their unwavering hard work, care, compassion and sheer determination to, despite the challenges, provide our patients and service users with the best care and treatment possible" he adds "Cath and Wendy are two fantastic representatives of our wonderful workforce – congratulations to them both."
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
(3).jpeg)
.png)
(1).JPG)
