A NURSE has been given a prestigious award for decades of service in the Maldon area.

Andrea McDonald was awarded a Cavell Star Award for her work as a leading wound care nurse with Provide Community.

Colleagues held a surprise ceremony for her, with nurses Geraldine Rogers and Sifiso Mguni handing her the award.

Andrea has been working with Mid and South Essex Community Collaborative and NHS England Nurse Fellows to improve wound care at the organisation.

The improvements have led Provide Community to implement rolling six-month secondments for nurses, weekly meetings where all teams can meet to discuss patients and mandatory wound care training across the organisation.

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

Andrea was surprised to receive the award as she didn’t know she had been nominated.

She said: “I was honoured to receive the Cavell Star Award last week. I had no idea that I had even been nominated. I was lost for words and the whole experience brought a tear to my eye.

“This award is not just for me. It represents a huge team effort across the tissue viability, lymphoedema, lower limb service and community nurse teams. We have all worked together to improve the lives of our patients.

“Not all wounds will heal, so we want to demonstrate we can improve quality of life through high quality wound care management.

“This work is very important to me, as I know that effective wound care management can mean that our patients can live a more comfortable and confident life.

“Thank you again to the NHS Nurse Fellows and NHS England for this award.”

Stephanie Dawe, CEO of Provide Health, said: “Andrea McDonald is an outstanding nurse of some 40 years of practice. Her dedication, passion and compassion are second to none.

“I feel deeply proud to know that Andrea provides the highest level of care to the people of mid-Essex.

“She truly deserves this recognition and whilst it has long since been known she is a Provide Community star, she has now rightly been awarded the Cavell Star.”