Pets as Therapy volunteers and their four-legged friends among those recognised in NHS Parliamentary Awards

Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust has three regional finalists in this year’s NHS Parliamentary Awards.

All have been invited to the final on the NHS’ 75th birthday, when the national winners will be announced, on Wednesday July 5.

Jane Cansfield, Diabetic Retinopathy Nurse Specialist/Lead Intravitreal Nurse Injector, has been nominated for The Lifetime Achievement Award by Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan and Gosport MP Caroline Dinenage.

Mahfuja Aktar, Midwife, has been nominated for The Nursing and Midwifery Award by Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt, Mr Morgan and Ms Dinenage.

And the Pets As Therapy Team at QA Hospital have been nominated for The Volunteer Award by Ms Mordaunt and Ms Dinenage.

Jane Cansfield is the South East regional finalist for the Lifetime Achievement Award thanks to her dedication to Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust for more than 40 years.

In that time she has performed more than 16,000 injections and procedures to help people maintain their vision, was instrumental in setting up the diabetic eye screening in Portsmouth, and became the first intravitreal nurse injector in Hampshire in 2016.

She said: ‘It’s an honour to be nominated and shortlisted. It is the highlight of my career.

‘I’m also very proud of the wonderful ophthalmology and diabetes teams who have been alongside me on my journey and have been so supportive.’

Thanks to her dedication to clinical care and compassion, Midwife Mahfuja Aktar is the regional finalist for the Nursing and Midwifery Award.

Judges were particularly impressed with a recent project that she led which aims to reduce the disproportionate stillbirth and neonatal death figures in Black and Asian mothers.

The project, funded by the NIHR, saw Mahfuja work with the Trust’s health inequalities lead to develop academic modules for different groups to increase knowledge in key areas and trust within the community.

The sight of the Pets As Therapy volunteers and their four-legged friends, meanwhile, is always a welcome one at QA Hospital.

A spokesperson for the Pets As Therapy team said: “It is an honour and a privilege to be the regional finalist and it is amazing to know that staff and patients appreciate us.

‘We love bringing smiles to patients who may be going through a difficult time and staff and visitors. We are delighted to be acknowledged.”

Penny Emerit, Chief Executive at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, added: ‘It is fantastic to have such a breadth of staff and volunteers recognised for what they do at our Trust and the difference they make to the patients and communities we serve.

‘I would also like to thank our local MPs for taking the time to nominate our staff and volunteers for these awards.’