I received a phone call from a junior nurse from my department (Harlow Renal Unit) saying they can’t commence a patient’s treatment because the 2nd nurse is not in. I was at my home in Stevenage at that time, and it will take over an hour for me to come to Harlow. I called Donny, who lives near the Harlow renal unit, but he was driving to Stevenage to pick up his wife from the night shift. He told me, "Sister, I will reverse the car in the next roundabout and go to the unit because there were 15 patients waiting for their lifesaving treatment to start, and I care for them." 

He came to the department at around 07:40, and the patients were called in to commence the treatment. Although the treatment had been delayed by 40 minutes, none of the patients missed their dialysis on the day. Donny had helped with similar situations a few times in the past.  Donny has truly gone above and beyond, and his willingness to come to the dialysis unit was truly appreciated. It was -2c temperature that morning, and his wife was waiting at the main entrance at Lister Hospital, Stevenage, after her night shift. I felt that the above example demonstrated Donny’s outstanding effort and commitment to patient care.

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During Xmas time, Donny’s wife, daughter, and son came to the Harlow renal unit to sing carols for the patients on dialysis. They came five times to meet all the patients on dialysis on two different days and sang around 15 songs in total.  Donny was on guitar, his daughter on piano, and his son was on violin. All patients enjoyed the carol singing, and other staff joined with Donny and his family for singing. His unwavering commitment and hard work to attend the unit 5 times with his family during the busy days on his days off were really a dedication to excellence. For this reason, I would like to nominate Donny Halder for the DAISY Award.