This award is for nurses who make a significant impact on people affected by bowel cancer, provide exceptional care and show outstanding initiative.
Rachel is the Lead Colorectal Nurse for Liverpool University Hospitals, and judges highlighted how patient care is at the heart of her work, saying: “Rachel’s dedication to enhancing services and maintaining patient dignity shows an admirable level of professionalism, expertise and compassion. She is a natural leader with a commitment to delivering high quality care.
“Whether advocating for her patients or skilfully implementing innovative services, her contributions significantly benefit both patients and colleagues.”
After winning the award, Rachel said: “Being up against the whole country I didn’t expect to win, but I’m delighted. The whole team is very passionate, and I wish this was an award for all of us – we deserve it as a team.”
It was 25 years ago that Rachel began her training to become a nurse, moving from Northern Ireland to study at the University of Liverpool and learning and training at placements in the Royal Liverpool and Clatterbridge hospitals.
Rachel said: “I spent my summers training and working on the wards, they were amazing people, you learnt on the job, and they were so compassionate to help patients. By my second year on placement, I was hooked. I’d meet patients from all walks of life, and I loved the teams I worked with, they were a great support network, which was important for me because my family was back in Ireland.
“I started on Ward 5B at the Royal in pancreas and surgical nursing and I really enjoyed it. I then became a Sister on 5B for hepato-pancreatic biliary surgery, here the patients often stayed with us for a long time, so you’d get to know them well. I was guided by fabulous inspiring mentors, especially Jo Garry and Michele McMahon."
In 2013 Rachel had the opportunity to move into a clinical senior role in the Colorectal Department, she said: “This was an ideal chance for me to develop my skills, and I began working with Sue Kennedy, Lead Colorectal Cancer Nurse, who was a great inspiration and role model, teaching me all about colorectal cancer. I learnt how to do endoscopies, find cancers as well as work compassionately with patients and families on how to break bad news and offer them advice and support.”
Rachel added: “Over the last 10 years the service has grown, we’re now the second biggest Multidisciplinary Team in the North West, with eight nurses, four support workers, four co-ordinators as well as admin colleagues all working alongside nine consultants in the Colorectal Department. We see more patients and have developed the service to look at the different parts of the bowel separately – I now specialise in anal cancer.”
By enha
We have also set up the Regional Anal Intraepithelial Neoplasia (RAIN) service, which is a precancerous condition where abnormal cells develop in the lining of the anus, primarily caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). Much like a cervical smear test, the team carry out an anoscopy to look for pre-cancerous changes in cells in the anal canal and identify those who are a higher risk.
“We are now working in collaboration with Liverpool Women’s Hospital and Colorectal Consultant Mr Javed, because we’ve found sometimes women who have pre-cancerous cervical/vulval cells could also develop changes to the anal cells too. So, rather than having appointments across different hospitals, patients benefit from a joint service with just one appointment, it’s much more convenient,” said Rachel.
She added: “We’re making improvements to provide an enhanced service for patients. We want every patient across the city to have the same quality service – a named nurse following you though your pathway across the bowel cancer cohort of patients. If you have any concerns or symptoms, I would urge you to get checked so you can get the support you need.”