In celebrating International Nurses Day, the Western NSW Local Health District (LHD) has announced the winners of the 2023 Nursing and Midwifery Awards and nurses from Walgett, Narromine and Coonabarabran took out three of the five award categories.

Awards were given to the Nurse of the Year, Team of the Year, and the Pauline Webster-Cox Award for New to Practice Nurse of the Year.

Two new awards, the Nursing/Midwifery Leader of the Year, and the Aboriginal Nurse/Midwife of the Year were also handed out for 2023.

Nominations were open to staff across the Western NSW LHD in the weeks leading up to the award, giving them a chance to celebrate those who fit the criteria for the awards.

The criteria surround the idea of Living Well Together, a philosophy that encourages consistency, accountability, and sustainability in service delivery and patient care.

The award winners:

The Pauline Webster-Cox Award was received by Coonabarabran-based Registered Nurse, Garima Nepal.

Coonabarabran New to Practice nurse winner Garima Nepal

Aboriginal Nurse/Midwife of the Year was awarded to Lee-Ann Hurst who works as a Clinical Nurse at Bathurst where she specialises in Ambulatory Care.

The other new award for 2023, the Nursing/Midwifery Leader of the Year was awarded to Madeleine McKenzie-Lindgren, the Nurse Unit Manager at Dubbo Hospitals Cardiac Catheter Laboratory.

Team effort in Walgett

The Team of the Year was awarded to the Walgett Multipurpose Service Nursing Team.

The Western Plains App had the opportunity to speak with the Acting Manager of the Nursing Unit, Angela Hundy, who could not be prouder of the team they have up at Walgett.

"Everyone is so happy, I'm so proud of our team here," said Angela.

"I'd nominated the team and I'd got the call on Monday that we had been successful."

"It wasn’t easy to hold on to that until Friday," she laughed.

The criteria for Team of the Year is a little different to the other awards too, where they are judged on their teams' demonstration and commitment to the Living Well Together values, a commitment to the nursing profession, and the demonstration of leadership in the provision of nursing quality care.

Angela believes the team works so well together due to the strong workplace culture.

"I came here in March last year for some experience as a unit manager, and the second I got here I was welcomed, everyone was so happy to meet me and couldn’t do enough, and I've since seen people come and everyone gets treated with that same love."

"The girls that have been here for a long time have worked seriously hard to forge that culture over the years and we reap the benefits."

"We had three new graduates come and work with us, and all three are staying on because of our team and how we operate."

The award has also been a spring in their step according to Angela.

"At the moment it's not often easy to be a nurse, we're experiencing short staffing and everyone has worked so hard and sacrificed family time to make sure their communities are cared for."

"Getting an award like this, you'd think we'd won the lottery."

Nurse of the Year for Western Region, Simone Purtell, Narromine.

Narromine's Nurse of the Year

As for the biggest individual honour, for 2023 it was awarded to Narromine-based endorsed-enrolled nurse, Simone Purtell.

Simone had arrived at the hospital this morning for the award, however, the Nurse of the Year title was far from her mind.

"I knew I was nominated, but when I was called in I thought we’d won the teams award," said Simone. "But it was absolutely fantastic."

Simone has been working as a nurse for 27 years, working in stints across Western NSW including Dubbo, Warren, and Wellington. But it is Narromine where she has spent the majority of her time.

"You're able to help people and families in what is often their lowest and most confusing time," she said.

"I love being able to be that positive and reassuring voice for them, and I get the chance to make those people smile."

Simone's love for her job is reflected in her skills and abilities, and she couldn’t be prouder to do what she does.

"I'm very proud to be an endorsed-enrolled nurse on the ward, we're very clinically trained, and can go to emergency departments, for rural towns it's an important job."

"Nurses in general can be so adaptable, so I'm quite proud to do what I do."

Congratulations to all the nurses across our region for the amazing care they provide to our western plains communities.