In November 2022 Kate is retiring as Head of Nursing for Oncology and this would be a fitting award to help celebrate her retirement and all she has achieved during her time as a nurse at LTHT. Kate has worked at LTHT in various nursing roles for 33 years. Kate always puts patients at the forefront of everything she does. She is committed to delivering high standards of patient care and is extremely caring and compassionate to patients, their families, and staff members. Kate is the most inspirational leader that we have worked with. She always takes time to listen and adapts to the needs of individuals and her teams. She leads by example and is a role model to all, Kate encourages collaborative working and goes out of her way to help everyone. This in turn ensures we are always seeking to provide the best care possible to our patients.

Over the past year, we have witnessed Kate help several people in very challenging situations. One person, in particular, is a gentleman who has complex healthcare needs and at times, very challenging behaviours. Kate has maintained regular contact with him and supported him to be able to ask the questions he needed to about his care and supported him to understand the answers. Kate went above and beyond to help him and she persevered which we believed truly helped him. Her commitment to this patient and others completely embodies the Leeds Way values.

Kate’s compassionate, approachable and supportive leadership style has created a culture of professional pride; staff feels valued, able to speak up, and truly committed to delivering outstanding care. We think everyone would agree that compassion shines out of Kate. She is a shining example of a compassionate leader. We would be so proud to see Kate honored as a DAISY Nurse in recognition of the dedication, courage, and commitment to nursing that she has shown throughout her career.