From today (Thursday 1 June), registered nurses at Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) can be nominated for a prestigious and internationally renowned DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses.

The DAISY Award, established by the DAISY Foundation, recognises extraordinary nurses who demonstrate excellence in practice and compassionate care every day.

The DAISY Foundation is a not-for-profit international organisation, established in memory of American, J. Patrick Barnes by members of his family.  Patrick died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease. DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System. The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired the DAISY Award to thank nurses for making a profound difference to the lives of their patients and patients’ families.

Anyone who has been a patient or service user of Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, which provides local community and mental health services in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, can nominate a Trust registered nurse for a DAISY Award. LPT’s services include inpatient units and community hospitals, adult mental health services, CAMHS, health visiting and school nursing, specialist learning disability support, school immunisations, acute nursing care and community nursing to name but a few. Families and carers of patients and service users, members of the public and volunteers can also make a nomination to recognise and celebrate the excellent care and support provided by an LPT nurse.

Each month a registered nurse will be honoured with a DAISY Award, chosen by an LPT panel, following a thorough review of all nominations. Each honouree will be celebrated and receive a certificate, a DAISY Award pin and a beautiful and meaningful sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe.

Dr Anne Scott, executive director of nursing, allied health professionals and quality at Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, said: “We are so proud to be among the healthcare organisations participating in The DAISY Award program. Our Trust offers such diverse health care, but no matter what service area our nurses go above and beyond to help patients and service users every day. It’s important that our nurses know their hard work is highly valued, and The DAISY Foundation provides a way for us to do that.”

Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, doctor of humane letters (h.c) and co-founder of The DAISY Foundation, said: “When Patrick was critically ill, our family experienced first-hand the remarkable skill and care nurses provide patients every day and night. Yet these unsung heroes are seldom recognised for the super-human, extraordinary, compassionate work they do.  The kind of work the nurses at Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust are called on to do every day epitomises the purpose of The DAISY Award.”

To nominate an LPT nurse for a DAISY Award you can either:

This new recognition scheme for nurses complements our existing awards, which are open for nominations to recognise all disciplines of staff and volunteers. These include the Trust Valued Star Awards and the Celebrating Excellence Awards.

Complements about our staff can also be sent through to our patient advice and liaison service (PALS). PALS can be reached by calling 0116 295 0830 (Monday to Friday 9.00am – 4:30pm), emailing lpt.pals@nhs.net or writing to Freepost LPT Patient Experience.