Staff nurse Pamela Warne has been awarded the Royal College of Nursing Wales Mentorship Award.

The lead mentor at Chirk Community Hospital was nominated for her work with nursing students and their mentors.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board nurse Pamela travelled down to Cardiff with her nominator, Ward Manager Victoria Sheffield, for the glitzy ceremony.

As lead mentor at Chirk Community Hospital over the last eight years, she has managed her team of hospital mentors with ‘passion’ for training the nurses of the future.

She said: “When I first qualified as a student nurse I found it really difficult to relate theory to practice.

“I think all training should relate directly to patient care as I thought that it was difficult for nurses to relate what they learn in theory to actual patient cases.

“In our teaching we focus on specific patients we have got on the ward so the students can relate their academic learning to the actual patients that we have.”

Pamela spoke of the importance of getting the basics of nursing right and said she’s always been interested in mentoring.

“It’s something I feel really passionate about. If we provide student nurses with a good experience then we produce good nurses for the future.

“What we provide here is good, basic nursing care and once you’ve cracked the basics you can go on in your career to do whatever you want.

“Good nursing is about good communication with people and seeing the bigger picture.

“I love my job and I want people to feel as passionate about nursing as I do. We need to instill passion in the nurses of the future too.

“It’s so amazing working in Chirk, we are like a family here we really are. The team are fantastic.”

Royal College of Nursing Wales said the award is given to an outstanding registered nurse who demonstrates an innate understanding of the importance of good mentorship, supporting high quality learning environments, acts as a role model to and invests in existing and aspiring mentors, and who builds and maintains relationships to enable and support mentorship.