Hayley Hadfield scooped the prestigious Queen’s Nurse recognition, which is awarded by the Queen’s Nursing Institute.
Queen’s Nurse (QN) title is a distinguished honour recognising a nurse’s commitment to ongoing learning, leadership and excellence in healthcare.
Hayley said: “I feel extremely humbled to have been awarded a Queen’s nurse title! It demonstrates my commitment to maintaining high standards of patient care, learning and leadership within my role now and going forward throughout my career.”
Although she left to pursue tourism management in Manchester, Hayley later realised that the course was not for her and she returned to Richmond to work in the same care home as a care assistant.
She said: “I realised how much I loved interacting and caring for other people.”
While working at the care home, Hayley enrolled for a part-time access to health course through Darlington college, where she spent two evenings per week over two years.
Following this, she secured a place on the BSc in adult nursing course at Teesside University and successfully qualified as a nurse in September 2013.
After working as a community nurse in a neighbouring trust for eighteen months, Hayley joined South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in January 2015 as a community nurse within the Richmond district nursing team.
Slowly and steadily, Hayley rose through the ranks and currently works as a palliative care clinical nurse specialist in Hambleton and Richmondshire.
In this role, the Hambelton resident supports patients and their families who have a terminal cancer diagnosis or other life-limiting illness, by providing specialist intervention and advice regarding complex physical symptoms, as well as psychological support and end of life care.
Hayley added: “As someone who has always worked within the community, I am extremely passionate and proud to advocate for all nurses and healthcare professionals who work within a community setting on any level as we often go unrecognised.
The area we cover in Hambleton and Richmondshire is extremely rural, so I'm hoping the Queen's nurse title will enable me to act as an advocate for community health professionals, access networking opportunities and developmental workshops to enhance patient care and opportunities in this area.”
Lindsay Garcia, director of nursing, said: “We are extremely proud of Hayley’s accomplishment.
“Her distinguished recognition as a Queen’s Nurse is an amazing feat and we hope her achievement inspires aspiring nurses to work hard and serve their communities.”