WATCH: Masterchef winner judges competition as QA Hospital celebrates nurses

KING TUTT Masterchef winner Kenny Tutt tucks into the winning cake watched by Melloney Poole, the chairman of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust and chief executive Mark Cubbon Picture: Habibur Rahman

Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham, invited its staff to spend some time off the wards, relaxing and having a chat with each other.

The event, held yesterday, had a number of information stalls, an international food stand, students from two colleges doing beauty treatments and a raffle.

As part of the day the hospital held a nurse bake-off competition with the sweet treats judged by Masterchef 2018 winner Kenny Tutt.

He was invited to QA to meet staff, taste the different cakes and pick a winner which was a pecan and maple cake.

Kenny said: ‘Shortly after I won Masterchef I got a tweet asking if I could come to the hospital and judge their staff cake competition.

‘The fact it was nurses who were baking caught my eye and it was something I was happy to do.

‘At a different hospital my wife had to have an emergency caesarean and the nurses made the whole thing less stressful.

‘We were in the hospital for a week and met so many different nurses so I know exactly how hard they work.

‘They are invaluable and I wanted to help support International Nurses Day.’

Kenny, from Worthing, was crowned Masterchef winner in April and said he has spent his time since taking the crown visiting food festivals.

He said he was impressed with the standard of cakes baked by the nurses.

‘It was very tough to pick a winner, there was only one point in it,’ he added.

‘Baking is trickier than cooking as you have to be really precise and these cakes were phenomenal. They were really excellent.’

International Nurses Day is an event celebrated every year by QA Hospital and this year’s was the biggest one they have organised.

Hayley Atkins, who helped put it together, said: ‘We wanted to try to do something a bit special this year for our nurses. It is really important we take the time to celebrate our nurses and everything they do.’

The Portsmouth Hospitals Nurse of the Year Awards took place last night at the Marriott Hotel to celebrate nurses at QA Hospital.