OBE recipient Candice Pellett has spoken of her pride in the quality of care delivered in south Lincolnshire.
Candice, who lives at Moulton with husband Mike, received her award in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list in recognition of her services to nursing.
At a time when hard-pressed nurses have been accused in the national press of a lack of care, Candice epitomises all that is best about her profession.
Candice works full time as a senior district nurse for Lincolnshire Community Health Services Trust, working from the Bourne Health Centre and alongside doctors at the Bourne Galletly Medical Practice.
She says: “I am very proud of the care we deliver in south Lincolnshire. I am very proud of what the teams deliver, especially in palliative and end of life care.
“There is no excuse for poor care. I work with colleagues who deliver high quality care.”
Candice says she has always had an interest in nursing but that has developed specifically into a bias towards palliative and end of life care.
“I am very passionate about all types of nursing, but that area of care is particularly important to me,” she said. “Supporting people and families who wish to die in their own home. We can do that locally because my colleagues in Bourne, including GP colleagues, all have that philosophy, to support people who wish to died in their own home.”
Candice entered the profession as a health care support worker at the Welland and Johnson hospitals in Spalding before undertaking nurse training.
After qualifying in 1995, she secured a community post in Bourne and in 1999 achieved her district nursing specialist qualification degree.
Six years ago she was honoured with the Queen’s Nurse title, one of just 13 in the country to get it, in recognition of exceptional care delivery.
Shortly afterwards, she was seconded to the Department of Health to act as clinical lead for nursing for the country in the transforming community services programme.
She has gone on to sit on a number of national groups, including working on the Prime Minister’s Nursing and Care Quality Forum.
In Whitehall, Candice can cite best practice based on case studies from her own caseload in Bourne.
Asked how she fits it all in, Candice says: “I have a long suffering husband!”