Brighton’s Filipino nurses win award for response to typhoon

Filipino nurses working in Brighton have won an award for their response to Typhoon Haiyan which devastated the Philippines last November.

They were recognised at the Surrey and Sussex Proud to Care Awards on Friday evening (28 March), winning the Team Courage award.

About 120 Filipino nurses work at the Royal Sussex County Hospital and other hospitals run by the same trust – the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust.

They held cake sales and asked for cash, raising more than £5,000, and took donations of food, clothes, toiletries, blankets and candles to the Philippines.

When they started the appeal, many had not been able to reach family and friends to find out whether they had survived the typhoon.

More than 6,000 people died, more than 28,000 were injured and power and communications networks were damaged.

Junjun Medran and Riezel Paniza were among the nurses leading the disaster response with support from management and colleagues at the Royal Sussex.

The team was one of the five category winners and seven runners up from the trust – more than any other organisation across the two counties.

The awards included the public choice award which went to Sally Graham, a community midwife working based at the Royal Sussex.

Javaid Aziz, a staff nurse in the Cardiac High Dependency Unit at the Royal Sussex, won the Individual Communication Award.

Sue Davis, the bereavement lead midwife at the Royal Sussex, won Individual Compassion Award.

Clare McGregor, head of nursing in A&E (accident and emergency) at the Royal Sussex, was the runner up in the Individual Courage category.

The nursing team on Jowers Ward at the Royal Sussex took the runners up spot for the Team Compassion Award.

Mitch Denny, a specialist midwife for teenagers at the Royal Sussex, was the runner up in the Individual Communication category.

Lucy Pitt, a critical care outreach nurse across the trust, was the runner up for the Individual Commitment Award.

And the Team Commitment Award runner up spot went to the stroke team at the Royal Sussex.

Matthew Kershaw, the trust’s chief executive, led the tributes to all the winners and nominees at the trust’s monthly board meeting in Brighton this morning (Monday 31 March).