Lancaster nurse celebrates winning two top awards

Cherish Otoo, who qualified as a nurse at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust in February, has been awarded the Most Inspirational Nurse, and the Mary Seacole Award for her outstanding contributions to diversity and inclusion at this year’s Nursing Times Student Awards.

Cherish, who had previously worked for the Trust in a non-clinical role, was one of the first people in the UK to enrol and qualify as a nurse through the University of Cumbria’s Registered Nurse Degree Apprenticeship programme, which was the first of its kind in the country when it launched in 2018.

The Student Nursing Times Awards winners were announced at a ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel on Friday May 27.

Cherish said: “I’m so grateful and extremely overwhelmed to receive these prestigious awards.

"It was a wonderful day, and to be asked by several universities and hospital trusts to connect and work alongside them to promote the nursing apprenticeship and to connect with nurses and students from diverse backgrounds is an honour and a privilege.

“I am especially excited to work alongside the Mary Seacole Trust to promote diversity and I look forward to becoming a part of this.

“I'd really like to thank the University of Cumbria for nominating myself for these awards, and to UHMBT, in particular my colleagues at RLI Emergency Department and the BAME Network for all of their encouragement and well wishes”.