Julie McGrath receives highly coveted Chief Nursing Officer award

Julie, a Healthcare Support Worker at Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, has achieved this year's prestigious Chief Nursing Officer award for support worker excellence.

This esteemed award coincides with our Nursing Support Worker’s Day (23 November) celebrations, shining a spotlight on the nursing support workforce across the UK and highlighting the vital contribution they make to patient care in health and social care.

The Chief Nursing Officer Awards for Healthcare Support Workers (HCSWs) reward the enduring compassion and vital contribution made by people in these roles in England and their exceptional support of nursing practice. Healthcare support workers are at the heart of clinical settings and local communities up and down the country, making a real difference every day to the lives of patients they care for and the nursing colleagues they support. They are integral to our workforce and deserve recognition and celebration for all that they do.

Julie’s career in the NHS spans 28 years, including 19 years in LYPFT’s Assertive Outreach Team, most recently as Assistant Case Manager, which works with people with ongoing complex mental health needs. She has been commended for the positive impact she has had, not only on patients but also her patients’ loved ones, through building good relationships to provide outstanding patient care. She has also been recognised for championing equality, diversity, and inclusion in everything she does, both in clinical practice and with her colleagues.

Presenting Julie with the award, LYPFT’s Director of Nursing and Professions Nichola Sanderson, said,

“Julie has worked with people living with serious mental illness for many years. She has an enduring drive to find innovative and compassionate ways to enhance their lives and aid their recoveries and is an inspiring role model to other Healthcare Support Workers.

Julie’s involvement in a music project is just one example of where she has gone above and beyond. It took enormous perseverance and passion to keep the project going despite the challenges brought by funding, transport, the pandemic and tackling negative stereotypes. She passionately believes that everyone should have opportunities to be creative and particularly those who are often excluded because they live with serious mental health needs.

Her commitment to improving the lives of people with serious mental health needs is ever present and she is always the first to defend their right to enjoyment and fun as they recover. She consistently shows the warmth, compassion and commitment that service users respond to and, through the strong relationships she builds, she helps people make fuller and richer recoveries.”

Julie’s mantra is “you always need to look for the potential in people before you see their problems”. On being presented with the award certificate and Chief Nursing Officer badge, she said,

“I’m over the moon that these achievements have been recognised. The project has been so important for our service users and they’ve got so much from it. They’ve had a much-needed distraction from their illness and taken opportunities to be creative which they wouldn’t otherwise have had.”

Chief Nursing Officer for England, Dame Ruth May said:

“Now more than ever, it is imperative that all parts of the nursing and midwifery workforce feel recognised and valued for the contribution they make every day. This is especially true of the support workers across our workforce, who are so integral to patient care and so central to all our teams.

“For all the rewarding experiences that our profession can give us, there’s nothing quite like being told how important your contribution is by those you work with day in, day out.”