A WOMAN from Helensburgh has been named Nurse of the Year in Argyll and Bute’s first industry excellence awards.

Carol-Anne McDade, the local district nursing team leader, was presented with her award at a ceremony on Friday, held to coincide with International Nurses Day.

Seventeen group and individual winners received their prizes at the ceremony in Inveraray.

Carol-Anne said: “I am absolutely honoured and privileged to receive such an award when there are so many fantastic nurses across Argyll and Bute who do an amazing job on a day to day basis.

“This award, however, is a reflection on all of the health and social care team in Helensburgh and Lomond from my line managers, Jim Littlejohn and Linda Skrastin, to my fantastic district nursing team, occupational therapists, physios, social work, admin support and colleagues, without whom I could not do my job half as well.”

Liz Higgins, lead nurse with the Argyll and Bute health and social care partnership (HSCP), said: “Nurses and midwives across Argyll and Bute are providing a first class service to their communities every day and we felt that it was important that they were recognised for their hard work and dedication to patients.

“In light of this, and also in response to ideas generated by the staff themselves, we decided to launch a series of Nursing Excellence Awards for nurses and midwives working across Argyll and Bute.

“We asked that nominations were based on a series of behaviours that were evidenced by the nurses and midwives in caring for their patients.

“These behaviours included attentive listening, honesty, patience, sensitivity and respect.

“I was really delighted by the high standard and the number of nominations we received and my colleagues and I had the very difficult decision of choosing the winners.

“We have some really worthy winners and I would like to congratulate them all on their hard work and dedication to the local communities across Argyll and Bute.”

Following the success of the awards, the event will now take place annually.

The award winners were as follows:

Nurse of the Year – Carol-Anne McDade (Helensburgh)

Health Care Assistant of the Year – Linda Black (Dunoon)

Patients Choice Award – Mid Argyll Extended Community Care Team (Rhona Larkin, Colette Morgan, Trevor Lines, Cathy Griffiths, Michelle Campbell).

Lead Nurse Award for Mentor of the Year – Joanne Hill (Dunoon)

Nurse Director’s Award for Lifetime Contribution to Nursing (a nurse who is retiring in 2017) – Sheila Letford (Oban)

Team of the Year – Bute Midwifery Team (Ann McClean, Fiona Hood, Lesley McArthur, Fiona Maccallum)

Co-Workers Nursing Star Award – Tiree Team (Catriona Cowling, Mairi Maclean Storm Byfield, Alison Colthart).