TWO Burnley nurses are celebrating after being honoured with a prestigious and nationally-recognised award for their high standards of patient care.

Carrie Locker and Lorraine Goldsbrough from the Burnley Specialist Nurse Practitioner team received the Queens Nurse Award at the Queen’s Nursing Institute Spring Awards ceremony in London.

Mrs Goldsbrough has been a nurse for 36 years and was employed as a specialist nurse practitioner for Burnley GPs in April 2015, and has said that she is very thankful for her career.

She said: “My career as a nurse has been very rewarding.

“I enjoy helping patients to improve their health and wellbeing.

“I always strive to put the patient at the centre of their care.”

A Queen’s Nurse is someone who is committed to high standards of practice and patient-centred care, with 126 new Queen’s Nurses chosen this year.

The title is given to individual nurses who have demonstrated a high level of commitment to patient care and nursing practice in their community.

Mrs Locker also felt privileged to receive such an award, after being a nurse for 15 years, with 11 of these years spent in the East Lancashire community.

She said: “I feel honoured to be chosen for a Queens Nurse award.

“We go into all care homes within Burnley and do daily ‘ward rounds’, there are six fellow nurse practitioners within the team. I was particularly touched that this honour was as a result of being recommended by two of my patients.”

She has been visiting care homes to support them as an advanced nurse practitioner for the last two years and has spent the last eight months of this with the Green Dreams Project for Burnley care homes. This project is another indication of her impressive work, as it aims to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions, and contribute to improving quality within care homes. Bosses at NHS East Lancashire have also paid tribute. to the incredible work the pair of nurses have carried out to get this award.

Jackie Hanson, director of quality, and chief nurse at NHS East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said: “On behalf of the CCG, I’d like to congratulate Carrie and Lorraine on their successful nominations as Queen’s Nurses.

“This prestigious award is testament to their dedication and commitment, and they are a credit to the nursing profession.”