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Cardiff-based Nurses Receive Prestigious Award for Long Service

22 May 2018 (Last updated: 2 Jul 2019 16:58)

Local nurses Pip Chandler and Lisa Leamon have been granted the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) Long Service Award for completing 21 years of continued service in community nursing.

The QNI is a registered UK charity tracing its origins back to 1887 following a grant of £70,000 by Queen Victoria from the Women’s Jubilee Fund. A Royal Charter in 1889 named it ‘Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Institute for Nurses’ and its objectives were to provide the ‘training, support, maintenance and supply’ of District Nurses for the sick poor, as well as establishing training homes and establishing branches.

Pip took on the role of stoma staff nurse at the Royal Devon and Exeter back in 1997 following a period in an oncology unit in Cumbria which brought her into contact with an ostomate. That early experience shaped her determination to provide individualised and holistic care to her patients.

Pip said, “I am extremely proud to have been recognised for my work and of the award.

“When I met my first ostomate, I was a little embarrassed that I didn’t know much about how to care for her. However, I quickly became sympathetic to the patient’s frustration over having to teach each new nurse that she saw how to care for her. I remember feeling strongly that she deserved better and made a commitment then to do what I could to help people living with a stoma and haven’t looked back since.

“How times have changed! We used to have to carry loose change so we could call our patients on public telephones. I also became quite good at reading Ordnance Survey maps in order to find my way around narrow and winding country lanes just to get to patients’ homes.”

Lisa became a specialist stoma nurse in the same year after spending time in the gynaecology ward caring for patients who went on to have stomas. The experience spurred her on to specialise in ostomy care. Despite the many changes within the NHS and in clinical services and equipment over the years, the needs of this group of patients has not altered and it is the need for a patient-centred approach to caring for these patients that has been professionally rewarding for Lisa.

Lisa said, “Twenty one years has flown by. I am extremely honoured to have been awarded the Queens Nursing Institute Long Service Award.

“I still remain as passionate and committed to my role in the community as I did when starting all those years ago.  I feel privileged to have been part of the journey of the people I have met in the community environment.”

Dr Crystal Oldman CBE, QNI Chief Executive said, “Congratulations to both Pip Chandler and Lisa Leamon for their commitment to community nursing and for reaching this great milestone in their careers. This Award from the QNI recognises their dedication and the care that they have both given to so many patients, families, carers and communities.”

Pip is now a Care Nurse Manager at Coloplast, a medical device manufacturer specialising in chronic care. She manages Coloplast Care community nurses covering Wales (including Cardiff and Vale) and she also oversees nursing teams in the West of England including Bath, Bristol, Weston and Worcester.

Lisa is presently a Coloplast Care Nurse working in partnership with Cardiff and Vale University Health Board where she cares for all patients discharged into the community following bladder or bowel surgery leading to a stoma formation. She supports patients along the clinical pathway which involves seeing them at home for the first six weeks post operatively, followed by regular appointments in GP stoma review clinics where she empowers her patients to self-manage their stomas.

For more information about the QNI, visit www.qni.org.uk

More about the QNI Long Service Awards can be found here www.qni.org.uk/explore-qni/qni-awards/long-service-award