A Zimbabwean,Taurai Matare, has been named the Royal College of Nursing Nurse of the Year in the UK. Ms Matare, also known as Tara, is...
A Zimbabwean,Taurai Matare, has been named the Royal
College of Nursing Nurse of the Year in the UK.
Ms Matare, also known as Tara, is matron for ophthalmology
at Whipps Cross University Hospital, where she has created new care pathways
for patients and developed her unit’s workforce.
She was recognised for her outstanding commitment and
determination to transform ophthalmology services at the hospital, having
earlier won the Leadership category at the awards.
Ms Matare moved to Whipps Cross University Hospital for a
role in orthopaedic surgery, but on arrival was sent to ophthalmology instead.
‘I loved it,’ she says. ‘Helping people to see – what could be better than
that?’
In 2004, she was asked to use her strong clinical
leadership to bring together the separate eye casualty, outpatients and
theatres to create a single, modern eye treatment centre on one site, and
manage the nursing and healthcare support staff.
‘My vision was to have staff trained to deliver extended
clinical roles and work flexibly as a team across the different elements of the
integrated centre,’ she says. This was supported by the training and
development programme she created. ‘It was crucial when we were recruiting to
let nurses know that if they came to us, they would be developed in all areas,
as only a handful of staff transferred over to us from the previous services.’
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