A neonatal intensive care (NICU) nurse is the latest to be nominated in the “public choice” section of this year’s CUH Annual Awards, run in partnership with the Cambridge Independent newspaper.
Mel Collett was chosen by KeAnne Holroyd, whose daughter, Winnie, weighed less than half a bag of sugar when she was born prematurely at just 27 weeks and was cared for at the Rosie for 172 days.
She had chronic lung disease and metabolic bone disease, a large PDA (hole in the heart), Klebsiella sepsis and bravely faced other serious challenges.
Her touching story appears in this week’s Cambridge independent (opens in a new tab), which wants readers to nominate, and pay tribute to, those working at Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie maternity hospitals.
In her nomination, KeAnne described Mel as a “very good, caring nurse” and added:
My NICU experience wouldn’t have been the same without Mel. Through the hard times Mel would always come in and check on us. She made our NICU experience easier because we knew we could have a laugh, but she would always take the best care for our daughter.
Even in the tough moments, Mel stayed calm and reassured us. She’s a fantastic nurse and deserves to be recognised.
KeAnne Holroyd
Judges want to hear your stories of kindness, compassion, and skill from individuals, or teams, working at the Trust. Nominations can be made via a simple form (opens in a new tab) on the newspaper’s website and there is the opportunity to include a message that will be passed to staff.
The Public Choice Award is the only category open for public nomination. The other categories enable CUH staff to nominate, or are special awards.
The Cambridge Independent and CUH will judge the entries to the Public Choice Award once nominations close in mid-May.
CUH is planning celebratory events for all staff nominated to this award, and the internal awards, in July. A special awards ceremony for the finalists will then be held in September in Cambridge.
The other award categories include recognition for teamwork, for contributing to patient and staff safety, for care and compassion, and for delivering improvements