Matron wins national care award

Florence Nightingale Hospice Matron Liz Monaghan was nominated for the Best Nurse award in The Sun’s Who Cares Wins Awards 2019.

Liz was nominated for her work on creating the Purple Rose campaign in Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust hospital wards. “It’s a symbol to let others know that the people around the patient are with someone at the end of their life, sharing important moments, and to be mindful of that,” says Liz. This is needed on busy wards where the patient can’t be moved to the Hospice because of the particular care they need, or because moving them would be too painful or difficult for the patient.

Liz, who has worked in palliative care for three decades, said: “It has never got easier to tell someone they are dying – nor should it. You have to get it right. If I can get someone’s relatives to the point where they say, ‘That wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be’, then I know I have done a good job.”

Staff have access to resource boxes on each ward that bring together practical information.  It includes a purple rose to place on the door or curtain to allow further privacy. Liz introduced purple drawstring bags for deceased patients’ personal belongings instead of the standard envelope. She said: “The purple rose is a symbol that ties together all the work we do.”

The Purple Rose kits which are supplied to wards in BHT Hospitals are funded by Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity.

“We are delighted that Liz’s initiative has been recognised by this award,” said Jo Turner, CEO. “The Charity and the Hospice are focused on providing a special kind of care and support for those at the end of their lives and their families, and Liz has enabled that care to reach outside the Hospice by using the symbol of the Purple Rose to alert Ward staff to their special circumstances.”