Kingston University and St George's, University of London win three awards at national Student Nursing Times Awards

Posted Friday 3 May 2019

Nursing associate student Gary Cutmore (centre) won the award for Most Inspirational Student Nurse of the Year

There was success for Kingston University and St George's, University of London as they picked up three accolades at this year's national Student Nursing Times Awards.

The Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education, run jointly by Kingston and St George's, scooped up the awards for Most Inspirational Student Nurse of the Year, Nursing Associate Training Programme Provide of the year and Teaching Innovation of the Year at the prestigious annual awards.

The awards shine a light on the brightest talent in the nursing community and recognise students, graduates and mentors who go the extra mile, as well as universities that put students experience first.

Gary Cutmore, a nursing associate student at Kingston and St George's, picked up the award for Most Inspirational Student Nurse of the Year. Gary, who has been working at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust during his course, is hard of hearing and was hailed as an inspiration to both peers and patients by course director Lucie Llewellyn.

Gary, who developed his passion for mental health nursing while working as a healthcare assistant, said overcoming the challenge of juggling his studies with full-time work, while using interpreters and note takers, has made the award even more worthwhile. "It can be frustrating at times but this has just made me more determined to work harder to become a qualified nurse. I'm thankful to the University for providing all the support I need and this has enabled me to continue learning and enjoying the course without any barriers," he said.

The faculty's Healthcare Practice Foundation Degree (Nursing Associate), which saw the first cohort graduate in March, won the award for the Nursing Associate Training Programme Provider of the Year. The two-year programme, which is taught at St George's' Tooting campus, helps to develop skills such as record keeping, administering medication, dealing with chronic illnesses and learning about physical and mental health nursing. This wide range of knowledge enables the students to work in a variety of different healthcare settings.

$Kingston and St George\'s Nursing Associate programme was awarded Nursing Associate Training Programme Provider of the Year$ Kingston and St George's Nursing Associate programme was awarded Nursing Associate Training Programme Provider of the Year

Course director of the programme Lucie Llewellyn said: "Winning this award was a fitting testament of the hard work and commitment of the programme team. It highlights the strength of the partnership between the University, trust partners and the students."

The third award collected by Kingston and St George's at the ceremony was Teaching Innovation of the Year. The prize was given to the faculty for the Nana-Xmas buddy-actor project, which saw Kingston's third year nursing students and associate professor Theresa Nash work with St Philip's Special School in Chessington and StoryAID. The students buddied up with year 11 pupils from the school to create and perform a story about the life of student nurses in the 1950s.

The project allowed the students to develop the interpersonal skills needed to work with young people with learning disabilities while the school pupils increase their self-confidence and creativity as well as building a greater trust in nurses.

Ms Nash said: "The award was a testament to the passion and commitment of the whole team, in particular the pupils from St Philips Special Needs School, their teacher Neil Mears, Director of StoryAID Eli Anderson and Buddy Student Nurses."

"It will enable us to attract funds to grow the scheme and empower students to challenge poor practice and champion excellent care, while also improving life chances for people with learning disabilities."

Head of the School of Nursing Dr Julia Gale said the three awards topped off an amazing year for Kingston and St George's. "The awards really highlight the individual and collective talent within the School of Nursing and it is fantastic to see our staff and students' brilliance acknowledged at a national level," she said.

The faculty also celebrated an award won by Haringey Learning Disability Partnership's James Shears, who regularly mentors Kingston and St George's learning disability nursing students. He won Mentor of the Year after being nominated by third year learning disability student Plefilia Ngamukwhuom Tampwhuo-Eyab.