A NURSE who completed her training at Warrington Hospital has been named a Dame in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.
Former Chief Nurse of Salford Royal and the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group, Elaine Inglesby-Burke CBE, has been awarded the honour of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to nursing.
Having retired at the start of the month after 43 years in the NHS, Elaine’s award recognises her commitment to the profession and her work on reforming nursing quality across The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (PAT).
These changes have led to an improvement in the rating of PAT by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) from Requires Improvement to Good.
Elaine’s work has also resulted in patient harms being dramatically reduced, stillbirths have halved, and there has not been a maternal death for more than three years.
The 61-year-old, who was born in Orford, said: "I recently retired as the Chief Nursing Officer at Northern Care Alliance NHS Group.
"I continue to be a non-executive on the board of the National Institute of Care and Excellence (NICE).
"I trained at Warrington General from 1977 to 1980 and worked as a staff nurse and ward sister on ward 16, which was a medical ward, before leaving in 1990 to become a nurse specialist at Whiston Hospital.
"I honestly had the most fabulous 14 years at Warrington General.
"There is something special about being a nurse and working in your home town.
"I made lifelong friends at the hospital and I also had a load of fun too!
"It really has a special place in my heart."
This year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours were put back in order to say thank you to those working on the frontline against the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking about receiving the title, Elaine said: "You can imagine that I have been completely blown away at receiving a damehood.
"I'm just a girl from Orford who has always loved her job and been fortunate to work with people who have both shaped and inspired me.
"Nursing is a wonderful profession - we are there for people at the worst and the best of times in their lives, often when they are at their most vulnerable.
"It is such a privilege."
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