A HAMPSHIRE nurse has been praised for giving patients their lives back with the presentation of a prestigious award.

Specialist nurse practitioner Charlotte Dore, of the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, was presented with the Director of Nursing Award at a ceremony last month.

In her nomination, one patient said: “I have my life back. How do you properly thank someone who has done so much for you?”

Ms Dore was one of many nurses, midwives and health professionals honoured for their dedication to delivering care to patients at the 10th annual awards, hosted at the Elvetham Hotel in Hartley Wintney.

The 322 nominations had come from former patients at HHFT's three hospitals - Andover War Memorial Hospital, Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, and Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Winchester.

Another nomination said: “Nothing was ever compromised and each and every one of us on the ward received the best possible care, given with care, compassion, sincerity and individual needs.”

HHFT chief nurse and deputy chief executive Donna Green hosted the ceremony, which was also attended by special guests the Mayor of Basingstoke, the Mayor of Test Valley, the Mayor of Winchester, and the Rotary Clubs of Andover, Basingstoke and Winchester. The guest speaker for the evening was figure skater and BBC commentator Robin Cousins, MBE.

Ms Green said: “This is our 10th awards ceremony and every year my welcome speech is broadly the same but that's because the message hasn't changed. Our nurses, midwives and therapists do an amazing job and I'm really proud of them. This evening is about celebrating our staff and the wonderful things they do to support our patients.

“We are very pleased to have some of the people who made nominations with us tonight and thank them for sharing their experiences with us. We also are lucky to have a lot of support from our community and it means a lot to our staff to have this support.”