A CARE Trust will honour its staff at an awards celebration tomorrow on International Nurses Day.

Bradford District Care is hosting the event at the Mercure Bradford Bankfield Hotel to recognise the positive difference its nursing staff make to people’s lives.

Among those being recognised at the event will be Neil Buckingham from Bradford who is a Senior Advanced Nurse Practitioner combining his skills working with vulnerable people as a special police officer and also nurse Tara Teske who is about to achieve her ambition of becoming a district nurse.

Mr Buckingham, 46 and from Bradford, will be speaking at the event about his work patrolling the streets as part of a project which was the first of its kind in the country giving him and other mental health service colleagues the same powers as routine police officers enabling them to go out on patrols and use their expertise when dealing with people in a mental health crisis.

He said: “This opportunity has lots of benefits for our local community as it allows us to improve the knowledge and skills of dealing with mental illness with our partner organisations and ensures that both people’s mental and physical health are looked after in the safest and most effective way.”

Since he joined the Trust as a staff nurse in 2000, Mr Buckingham has also learnt British sign language and worked closely with the deaf population and social services, making sure mental health services was equal to all.

He has also led the way with the development of the Trust’s no-smoking policy in supporting patients and staff to give up smoking and helping them to succeed.

The Trust’s special day will also celebrate the achievements of other staff including 29-year-old Mrs Teske who has been supported by the Trust to develop her career to soon become a district nurse.

Mrs Teske, who works in Bradford North and lives in Holmfirth, started her career at the Care Trust as a community staff nurse but after university studies will qualify in September as a district nurse.

Guests at the event will also hear about the Trust’s award-winning Lynfest, a music and arts festival for mental health service staff and patients.

Chris Weston, Head Occupational Therapist for the Care Trust’s specialist inpatient services, will be telling guests how the festival made a difference to the health and wellbeing of the patients cared for at Lynfield Mount Hospital.

Speaking before the event Mr Weston said: “The festival brought together staff and patients from a range of mental health services. Patients were involved in many roles from having the initial idea and planning and delivering the festival, to performing music, poetry and displaying their artwork. People involved found it motivating and engaging.”

LYNFEST recently won an award at the National Service User Awards in the Breaking Down Barriers/Tackling Stigma category.

The winners of the Kate Granger Compassion in Practice Award will also be revealed on the day by Chris Pointon, who was married to the late Dr Kate Grainger who previously visited the Trust and started the “Hello My Name Is…” campaign now rolled out in hundreds of NHS institutions across the UK and in other countries. The idea came to her after staff who looked after her in hospital during her cancer battle failed to introduce themselves.