Published on: Monday 26 Jul 2021 at 15:03
Carolanne Brannan, Director of Patient Care at St Clare Hospice, has been shortlisted in the Nurse Leader of the Year award category in the prestigious Nursing Times Awards 2021.
The awards shine a light on the brightest talent in the nursing profession, recognising those who are making nursing innovative, patient-focused and inclusive. Carolanne is one of 11 nurse leaders to be shortlisted for the award; all of whom will now be interviewed by a judging panel in September, before the overall award winner will be announced on 27th October 2021 at the Nursing Times Awards ceremony, taking place at Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London.
Carolanne, who is a registered nurse, has been recognised for her considerable achievements in the three years that she has been working at St Clare Hospice. A visible mark of her success as a nurse leader has been taking the Hospice from being a Care Quality Commission (CQC) – rated ‘Good’ hospice to becoming an ‘Outstanding’ hospice.
The award recognises Carolanne’s ability to lead a clinical team responsively through the pandemic. Under Carolanne’s leadership – along with that of the Hospice Medical Director Dr Abbas – the Hospice continued to operate as a specialist end of life unit, whilst nurses in the community continued to provide end of life care for people in their homes. Carolanne was instrumental in developing systems to help fast-track discharge from local hospitals for non-covid patients during the pandemic, freeing up bed space and helping to protect vulnerable patients from Covid 19.
Carolanne also lead her teams to develop new services to support people who were grieving for loved ones during lockdown, with the creation of a new Bereavement Support Helpline and online communities to help people connect with others through their grief.