A charge nurse from Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust has received the international DAISY Award for the outstanding compassionate care they provide to their patients.

Rachael Beasley, charge nurse, was nominated for the award for the care she provided to a mental health patient.

The DAISY Awards are an international recognition programme that honours and celebrates the exceptional care that many nurses and midwives provide every day.

The nomination, from the patient’s wife and carer, reads: My husband has been on Aston ward since August 2023 and has severe and ongoing mental ill health.

“Rachael has been exemplary in her care and communication and has always been willing to listen to our concerns and reassure us. She has been a beacon of hope when we have felt uncertain and has been approachable and kind when we have felt distressed.

“Her calm reassurance and honest response to our concerns has been very helpful and we greatly appreciate this, in what has been and continues to be, a very difficult time for us all.

“In a job where she carries so much responsibility for both staff and patients and must respond to the many demands on her time and skill, she has made time for our family, and we are very grateful.”

Rachael received her award from Anne Scott, executive director of nursing, allied health professionals and quality, accompanied by her colleagues.

Rachael shared: “I feel very appreciative for being nominated, it was a really nice gesture. It’s nice to know that a carer found the support I gave helpful.

“Being in a position to help patients in their recovery is what I love most about being a nurse. It can be a difficult job at times, but it is also very rewarding.”

You can thank your nurse by making a DAISY Award nomination here: www.leicspart.nhs.uk/about/daisy-award/

An acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System, The DAISY Foundation was formed in America in November 1999, by the family of J. Patrick Barnes who died at age 33 of complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP). The nursing care Patrick received when hospitalised profoundly touched his family.

You can find out more about the DAISY Foundation on their website: www.daisyfoundation.org/

Each DAISY Award honouree is recognised at a ceremony in their ward or department and receives a DAISY Award pin, certificate and a hand-carved sculpture A Healer’s Touch, funded by LPT’s charity Raising Health.