North Mid nurse awarded honorary MBE for work with children and young people
In what would have been one of the final acts of her historic reign, Queen Elizabeth II awarded a senior North Mid nurse with an honorary MBE for services to nursing.
The award to Colette Datt, associate director of nursing for children and young people at North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust, is officially known as ‘honorary Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire’, and was confirmed on 7 September 2022, just 24 hours before the death of the late monarch was announced on Thu 8 Sep.
In recognition of the national mourning period, the announcement of the honour has been held back until today (Wed 21 Sep) when it can now be confirmed. The physical presentation of the honour is likely to take place later this year, when it will be formally bestowed by a representative of the monarch or a government minister, but in the meantime, Colette is permitted to start using ‘MBE’ after her name and title.
The honorary MBE will join a crowded mantelpiece for Colette, who was named Nursing Times Nurse Leader of the Year four years ago (2018), and has won several other national awards, as well as being the official ‘lamp bearer’ of 2022 at the annual Florence Nightingale commemoration service at Westminster Abbey.
Colette said:
“I’m humbled and honoured to have been appointed an honorary MBE, but more than anything I am grateful to the colleagues, patients and families with whom I’ve worked over the years, who have been so supportive of my efforts to improve the care and experience for babies, children and young people needing healthcare. They will know more than anyone how important collaboration and co-production are to me, and by their very nature, these concepts need more than one individual! So, although this award is in my name, it is really about and for all those people I’ve worked with over the years.
“Having this award conferred on me is a huge privilege, and I am committed to using this privilege to continue accelerate the positive voice of nursing, by promoting nursing leadership opportunities, at every opportunity, to encourage the enormous potential of our profession. I am also intent on giving a platform to the amazing children and young people I work with, who inspire me every day, alongside my incredibly supportive family. Thank you all.”
Chief Nurse at North Mid Sarah Hayes said:
“I am truly thrilled for Colette to be recognised in this way. She is so passionate about her patients and about nursing and the support that she gives to colleagues, always finding a superb balance in being ‘in the moment’ to listen to what matters to people, with pushing the boundaries through research, innovation, and improvement. In the nearly two years that she has been at North Mid, she has built on the strong foundation and team in our children and young people’s service to move forward at pace in ensuring our patient engagement with children and young people is really first class. She is a wonderful asset for North Mid, but more importantly, she is an amazing nurse leader, advocate and champion for our children and young people, and this honour is truly deserved.”
North Mid’s Chief Executive Dr Nnenna Osuji said:
“I want to extend my sincerest congratulations to Colette on this tremendous acknowledgement of her brilliant work in children and young people’s nursing. North Mid serves a population which has a higher proportion of children and young people than average4 and it is vital that we listen to, hear and respond to what this hugely important sector of our society tell us. Having one of brilliant nurse leaders’ work recognised in this way is an important sign we are heading in the right direction in how we do this, and I am proud of her for championing and leading our work on this."
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Notes for editors:
- An honorary MBE is equivalent to an MBE, but is awarded to non-UK nationals who are not eligible for British Empire awards including MBEs, OBEs and CBEs.
- Previously, Colette has been awarded:
- the Penna Patient Experience (2018) for her work with Young Carers
- a Nursing Times Child and Adolescent team award in (2019) for initiating and enabling a project to enable key standards for asthma for schools in Islington.
- a prize for the research project most likely to improve allergy outcomes when she completed her MSc Allergy, whilst also gaining a distinction, at Imperial College London.
- She also has produced a plethora of research publications and has presented at local and national/international conferences around her key areas of interest in children’s nursing, which includes asthma, allergy, paediatric high dependency care, transition, autism and young carers.
- Colette was also hugely honoured to be the lamp bear at the FNF commeration service at Westminister abbey this year, as it signifies the transfer of knowledge to future generations of nurses and midwives