Nurse of the Year finalist Fiona Cruickshanks has a chance of a ‘fairytale ending’ when she goes to the Scottish Health Awards next month.
Fiona, who has dedicated more than 30 years to patient care so far, was shortlisted out of more than 900 nominations across 16 categories to be in with a chance of receiving an accolade.
Humbled to make it to the finals, Fiona says community nurses are the ‘Cinderellas’ and unsung heroes of the NHS, so she will be going to the glitzy awards ceremony in Edinburgh on November 2 on their behalf.
“I feel so humbled to have been nominated and to have made it this far to the finals, but most importantly, I feel it’s great recognition for community nurses. We are always the Cinderellas, so this is a chance for us to go to the ball. They really are the unsung heroes.”
As lead nurse at Easdale Medical Centre, Fiona is part of the Oban & Lorne Community Nursing team. Although her vast patch can cover as far south as Ardfern and to the top of Scammadale, as well as her home community of Luing, the team can and often do move across each other’s borders to reach patients in need.
Fiona was just 15 and a patient in the former Oban Community Hospital when she first got interested in nursing as a vocation.
“I’d been diagnosed as Diabetic Type 1 and was in hospital for a week, I was helping the nurses make the beds,” she said.
Although she originally wanted to work abroad as a missionary nurse, Fiona became an enrolled nurse and spent an earlier part of her career at Edinburgh’s Astley Ainslie Hospital, a world-renowned centre for treating head injuries.
Moving back to Luing, Fiona went on to work for cancer charity Marie Curie and continued with studies to become a staff nurse and also a district nurse, eventually taking up a permanent post with Clachan Seil district nurses.
Fiona also wanted to credit her colleagues for supporting her back to work after a stroke four years ago.
“I came back to work and a whole new world after the Covid years. The support I got from my colleagues was incredible, so I have them to thank for that,” she added.
Fiona said she was also grateful for the support she has been given to develop her career and become a prescriber, writing and dispensing medical prescriptions.
“Living and working in the same area is something that some people might find a disadvantage, but to me it’s never been like that. It’s always been a bonus for me to be able to look after the community I live in.
“Community nurses do this job because we love it, going above and beyond is all part of it. It’s a vocation,” she said.
There have been lots of “high-adrenalin” occasions being a community nurse -helicopter evacuations and tricky manoeuvres off boats – but it is the people that are most memorable; patients and their families.
She also praised the many care workers who she works with and says are “the backbones” of support in the community and are “there every day” for those who need them.
“To win this nursing award would be fun, but raising the profile of district and community nursing and caring would be the best!” said Fiona, whose dedication to others continues in her role as session clerk for Netherlorn Churches.