ACT Health has honoured Canberra’s leading nurses and midwifes in the 2019 Nursing and Midwifery Awards, presented last week.
Minister for Health and Wellbeing, Meegan Fitzharris announced the winners before an audience of around 400 people.
“Nurse of the year is Christine Archer, a melanoma and skin cancer specialist nurse at Canberra Hospital Services,” Ms Fitzharris said.
“Midwife of the Year goes to Sally McRae (pictured), a registered midwife from Calvary Public Hospital Bruce.”
She named the Childbirth Education Research Team at Canberra Hospital Services as the Team of the Year.
Ms Fitzharris praised the work nurses and midwives did and the great impact they made in the lives of people in the community.
“Nurses, midwives and our allied health professionals predominantly engage with the public in clinical settings — in our hospitals, walk-in centres and our maternity and child health clinics,” the Minister said.
“They are often a calming presence in highly stressful situations and they consistently deliver high quality, people-centred, health care.”
She took the opportunity to highlight the Government’s commitment to improving the workplace health and safety of nurses and midwives, following the release of Towards a Safer Culture – First Step Strategy.
“While we are driving a people-centred health care system, we are also urging the public to be people-minded when engaging with our nurses and midwives,” Ms Fitzharris said.
“We do urge the public to look after and respect our nursing and midwifery staff as they do their jobs looking after patients and families every day,” she said.
