Northumberland Mental Health Staff Win National Awards

Julie Johnson is the team leader at Cygnet Hospital Hexham on Anick Road, a 27 bed mental health facility for women with complex mental health needs. She won a Special Recognition award for her dedicated service at Cygnet Group’s annual nursing awards.

She was recognised alongside Daisy Motlogwa, a nurse at Oaklands, a specialist residential service with nursing, supporting individuals with learning disabilities, also on Anick Road.

The Cygnet Nursing Conference and Awards took place last week at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham.

On receiving her award Julie said: “I started the job during Covid and this means the world to me. I want to make a difference every day. One of my proudest achievements recently was winning the Triangle of Care award, which showcases how we, as a service, involve families and carers in the care of their loved one.

“My heart missed a beat when I found out I’d won this award. I love working for Cygnet, I work with a fantastic team and to make a difference each day is incredible. When families thank you for what you’ve done, you can’t bottle the feeling you get.”

Daisy was awarded Nurse of the Year for Cygnet Social Care services.

She said: “I am ecstatic about winning, it means everything. I have been with Cygnet for 4 years and to be recognised is absolutely amazing.

“It is rewarding to see the people I care for flourishing from not being able to do anything independently and then enabling them to live a normal life, often back in the community and achieve things people never expected them to.”

Nominating Daisy, the team at Oaklands said: “Daisy is empathetic, human-centred and promotes equality and diversity.

“She cares deeply about both the service users and staff in the service. She is always ready to support staff to provide the utmost care for service users.

“Daisy has always been a dedicated nurse. She is very professional when dealing with the people we support and the entire team. She continually goes out of her way to ensure that everyone is okay.

She is such a caring and sweet person. She respects everyone and is like a mother to all.”

Congratulating Julie and Daisy on their awards, Dr Tony Romero, CEO of Cygnet, said: “Nursing is a true vocation that requires compassion, knowledge, professionalism, humility and good humour. I am incredibly proud of the talented nursing teams we have across Cygnet who turn up every day to provide care to some of society’s most vulnerable people.

“We owe so much to our nurses and it gives me great pleasure to thank them all and congratulate award winners like Julie and Daisy. They improve and transform the lives of thousands of people every year, helping each individual to be the best version of themselves.”