Another trophy is heading back to CHFT after a brilliant night at the prestigious Nursing Times awards 2015.

Carole Hallam and a multi-disciplinary team of nurses won the Infection prevention and control category for their amazing work with doctors and nurses in Romania.

The unique tie-up between CHFT and Zalau Hospital in Transylvania started in 2005 after a chance meeting in London between a representative from Romania who asked our former colleague Kate Hinks if she could offer any help to their infection prevention and control. Kate reported back and our team - which travels out in their own time - forged close links which have seen infection control rates tumble not only in Zalau but right across the country.

It has been so successful Carole and the team have appeared via Skype on Romanian television.

Carole, a local legend for her dedication to handwashing, ANTT, root cause analyses, said: "It was fabulous. The room was packed with about 1,200 people in there and when they called us out we all felt so proud. It was that little bit different. What also made it special was Ramona Marincas, from Romania, was able to join us for the night.

Here's what Ramona says about her chums at CHFT.....

" I feel very lucky to work in one of Romania’s hospitals that had the chance to receive medical and technical support from dedicated and big-hearted persons from Great Britain.

…….the team has taught us general rules for cleaning and disinfection of the environment, how important the hand hygiene is and shown us how to design and implement policies such as care of the peripheral cannula or preventing surgical site infection. One of the most important policies was the standard isolation for the patient with Clostridium Difficile, which helped us to become one of the first hospitals in Romania with the fewer cases of patients with CD.

"Our work, together with the wonderful colleagues and friends from the UK, has continued so we edited a book of Infection Control for nurses. It was the first book of Infection Control addressed to nurses in Romania and the feedback from nurses all over the country was a very positive one.

It is very difficult for me to imagine how my hospital would look like today without this support; I am happy that I have the chance to work in collaboration and save patients life” 

The competition was fierce as there were more than 800 entries from 346 organisations.

The editor of Nursing Times,Jenny Middleton, said: “The nurses who have won this year – and those who are finalists – are smart, innovative and making real changes to the way that patients are cared for. Nursing care is no longer about bedpans and bandages – nurses contribute much more than that and influence every aspect of care and we need to make sure that the public, the media and the policymakers understand that."