Nurse, Stephanie Thomas was awarded the Silver award in the recent Wales Care Awards. (Wales Care Awards)

Stephanie, a dedicated St David’s Hospice Care nurse from Abergavenny was nominated for ensuring that people reaching the end of their lives are treated with dignity and respect. Stephanie has been has passing on her passion for palliative care by training a cohort of nurses to provide exceptional end of life care at St Davids Hospice Care based in Newport but serving the old area of Gwent with its many services.

As a result, she was shortlisted for the Excellence in Palliative and End-of-life Care Award - sponsored by Hallmark Luxury Care Homes - at the 2024 Wales Care Awards.

This year’s presentation ceremony, sponsored by Ontex Healthcare was held at the Holland House, Cardiff, on October 18th hosted by radio and TV presenter Jason Mohammad.

“I was thrilled to be nominated and delighted to pick up the Silver award,” said Stephanie. “Palliative care can be a challenging, emotional but rewarding role, supporting patients and families at such a difficult and emotional time in their lives."

Stephanie started her nursing career at Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny and spent 20 years there progressing to a ward sister. Her role was busy, and she found the most rewarding part of her role was caring for patients with a palliative diagnosis.

“While I was there, many years ago now, I noticed there was a significant difference in the treatment of terminal cancer patients and patients facing the end of their life as a result of other non- cancer conditions, such as heart failure etc.

“For example, while one cancer patient was given a dignified and respectful passing , sadly at the same time a patient with heart failure was experiencing pain and distress.”

“At that time, I realised I wanted to ensure that any patient entering the end of their lives received the same respectful, dignified and comfortable end of life care. This made me look for opportunities to work in palliative care.”

Initially after securing a secondment in Palliative Care for maternity cover within the hospital, Stephanie moved into a permanent role with St David’s Hospice Care, where she has been since 2004.

There she helped to improve care for all patients and their families, working to develop standards and policies that delivered on her ambition to offer every patient and every family dignity throughout their journey.

“It can be very challenging, and you have to be prepared to be led by the patient and try to support them through their choices even if you feel they are not always the right choices. You need to be realistic, and honest and do whatever you can for them, to help support them through their journey” she said.

“I remember one patient I cared for in the hospital who had a diagnosis of a brain tumour and only had his wife at home to look after him. He was adamant he wanted to go home for his final days. There were professionals who thought there were too many risks and his wife wouldn’t cope with him. But we did make it happen, and he died at home with his wife a few weeks later. If we hadn’t tried we could have left his wife with regrets and a more difficult bereavement. We only have one chance to get it right ….

And that underpins Stephanie’s success - and the lessons she tries to pass on to the new nurses entering palliative care.

“Years ago there were several palliative care nurses, now there are far fewer,” she said. “We have a lot of new band 5 nurses coming in who have nursing experience but need education and training on supporting palliative care patients and their families.

“When we are interviewing we can usually tell straight away if someone is right for the role. Communication and a caring, kind and empathic nature is essential. When we interview I am always looking for nurses who I would feel happy looking after a member of my own family”

Working in palliative care is challenging and our staff need to be resilient to ensure they can cope with the stress of the role. Clinical supervision is offered and all staff are aware support is always available right up to the Chief executive who has an open door policy for all staff.

“Our training for future Clinical Nurse Specialists is important because, we want to keep up the high standards that we have achieved at St Davids Hospice. I’ve been doing this for 24 years, and will be 60 this year. Its important to share my knowledge and nurture and grow the next generation of Specialist Nurses.

“I feel my role is to ensure the nurses are prepared and ready to deliver a high standard of end-of-life care heading towards the next century, and I’m proud to say we are achieving that.”

Mario Kreft MBE, Chair of the Wales Care Awards, said: “Our aim is to recognise the unstinting and often remarkable dedication of our unsung heroes and heroines on the front line of social care across Wales.

“The care sector is full of wonderful people because it’s not just a job, it’s a vocation – these are the people who really do have the X Factor.

“If you don’t recognise the people who do the caring you will never provide the standards that people need and never recognise the value of the people who need the care in society.

“We need to do all we can to raise the profile of the care sector workforce - they deserve to be lauded and applauded.

“It is a pleasure to honour the contribution of all the finalists. Each and every one of them should be very proud of their achievement."

Watch the Awards Ceremony

The awards ceremony was streamed LIVE thanks to Caron Group. A recording of it can be seen here:

Watch the Awards Ceremony

(You can skip to Steph and St David's Hospice Care by forwarding to 54 minutes on the video. )