Nurse thankful for team after winning award
A Mental Health Nurse has scooped a national award for the work she and her teams are doing to improve support to patients and staff across two Black Country Trusts.
Jodie Kirby-Owens won the silver Mental Health Nurse of the Year in the recent British Journal of Nursing (BJN) Awards.
Ms Kirby-Owens joined Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust in November 2020 and is lead Nurse for Mental Health for its partner organisation The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust too.
She said: “I am extremely proud to have won this award because it is a prestigious honour and to have been considered nationally, with so many other committed and dedicated NHS colleagues, is also significant as it raises the profile of our Trusts.
“But I must point out this award isn’t just for me as it also goes to my team because I am fortunate enough to work with fantastic colleagues.
“They are focused on embedding mental health processes to ensure our patients are treated fairly and have access to the information and support that will achieve the best outcomes for them.
“We are working hard to bridge the gap between mental health and physical health and to support our staff to take this holistic approach.
“Our patients can be extremely vulnerable and it is important that they know their rights and that they are treated with respect and compassion.
“Over the last year we have been implementing changes driven by their feedback and staff feedback and believe we are doing much better by them as a result.
"These improvements will continue.”
Mother-of-two Jodie received her award at the Banking Hall in London at a special ceremony last month.
In her spare time, the 37-year-old enjoys family days out and going to the beach.
She said: “I qualified ten years ago and am concentrating on taking every opportunity I can within my career.
"My biggest motivator is our collective work is helping to make a difference to our patients.”
