A BARROW nurse working in Manchester has been honoured at the annual award ceremony as the 'Staff Champion'.

Kelly Furness, 31, is a Senior Sister in the Emergency Department at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital.

During the hospital's annual ceremony, Kelly was awarded 'Staff Champion' for her outstanding work in the department.

During the award presentation, they highlighted how 'Kelly actively empowers and encourages staff to be the best health care professional they can be and how she goes above and beyond in her role, inspires, motivates, and encourages the team.’

Kelly said: "I moved to Manchester in 2012 and became a senior sister in the Children’s Emergency Department, and a shift leader at the hospital.

“This was focused on helping the day-to-day running of the department, ensuring patient wellbeing, safety, staff wellbeing and ensuring the best quality of care is administered.

“I’ve been doing this role for six months and worked my way up from being a staff nurse, junior sister, and then became the senior sister in May this year.

“I got emailed about my nomination back in September and a week before hand I got shortlisted for the finals.

“I only found out on the day. It was so unexpected but it was fantastic.

“It was held on December 7 and I was against eight or nine other finalists.

“I was so surprised but so grateful for being put forward for it.

“I’m not sure who nominated me but I have my suspicions on who it was.

“I’ve tried to do my best with my work and worked with an improvement project based around safety in the department.

“It’s a great place to work and it’s very humbling to get recognised for my work.

“I’m really thankful to my team and whoever put me forward for this.”