Bangor's second Nurse of the Year

Tina Donnelly, Director RCN Wales, Stephanie Morris and Stephen Griffiths, Director of Workforce, Education & Development Services, NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (Award Sponsor) at the Awards ceremony.A student from Bangor University has won a prestigious Award which celebrates her exceptional achievements and professionalism.

Stephanie Morris, a third year Adult Field BN Nursing Student at Bangor University’s School of Healthcare Sciences has been awarded the Royal College of Nursing Nurse of the Year Student Nurse Award 2016.

Professor Chris Burton, Head of School congratulated Stephanie saying:

“Stephanie is a shining example of the high quality students who are attracted to the University’s highly ranked Nursing programmes, and who then go on to play an important part in the provision of Healthcare services across North Wales and beyond. This prestigious award reflects all her hard work and dedication in going above and beyond what is required. The fact that this is the second time in two years that a Bangor student has received the award says a lot about the attitude of our students. Well done Stephanie! The challenge for everyone else is can we make it 3 out of 3 in 2017!’

Stephanie said:

“I am delighted to have won Student Nurse of the Year. The RCN Wales put on such an inspiring evening and to be amongst so many inspirational nurses was an honour. Winning is not only a personal achievement but is an opportunity to raise awareness of homelessness and health which is so important to me. I hope this will encourage change for the homeless community and I hope to continue in my work to improve the quality of health care services for this vulnerable group.

She added: “My experiences at Bangor University have been nothing less than wonderful. I have been supported by a wonderful team of lecturers at the Wrexham Archimedes Campus and my personal tutor who nominated me has been exceptional. I'm proud to be part of Bangor University and hope this will inspire other student nurses to take advantage of the wonderful opportunities available.

Stephanie, who is 26 and comes from Knockin near Oswestry, is a single parent and started the course when her daughter was less than one year old.

John Alcock, Stephanie’s personal tutor and nominator said:

“I have known Stephanie since the first day of her course and you cannot miss her energy and enthusiasm for nursing and appetite for education, which positively radiates from her. Colleagues report how positive she is to work with and always supportive when resolving day to day matters and more strategic School, course and teaching and learning issues that we work on collaboratively with students. Students and staff collectively work together to improve student experience and to facilitate the potential for growth and development of the best possible graduate nurse students. Stephanie has been a major force in helping us achieve those goals and has been an influence on patient and service user care and experience."

Stephanie volunteers has been facilitating art therapy classes for homeless service users at a local homeless drop-in centre. This work has been funded as a research project by the Local Health Board following a competitive Dragon’s Den selection process, and the aim is to improve transitions in care for homeless service users by educating nurses about homelessness to reduce stigma and discrimination – you can follow Stephanie at Health4Homeless on her Twitter handle @smooey123.

The awards were presented at the prestigious RCN Nurse of the Year 2016 gala dinner and celebration of nursing and midwifery in Cardiff recently.

Publication date: 17 November 2016