A nurse from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust has been crowned nurse of the year by the Royal College of Nursing institute (RCNi) .

Venetia Wynter-Blyth, 38, a gastrointestinal clinical nurse specialist at the Trust was awarded the RCNi’s highest honour for her holistic approach to getting patients fit for surgery.

Along with her team she founded the PREPARE programme which is designed to ‘train’ patients for surgery based on their individual needs.

The method which has been used with 80 patients in two years, has seen a dramatic improvement in outcomes for patients, including reducing the number of patients who experience surgical complications and reducing patients’ length of stay in hospital.

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The PREPARE programme which stands for physical activity; removal of bad habits; eat well; psychological wellbeing; ask about medications; respiratory exercises and enhanced recovery, also won the Innovation in your Speciality award at the same awards ceremony.

Venetia said: “I was completely overwhelmed and thrilled about winning. It’s recognition for all the hard work the team has put in to creating this programme. They were all completely focused on setting up a process that was right for our patients, and I’m delighted that it’s been successful and recognised in this way.

“To me, winning these two awards is an acknowledgement that what we’ve developed is unique and beneficial to patients.”