Surrey graduate wins prestigious Mary Seacole Award

Monday 30 November 2009

Stephanie Allen, who was awarded an Adult Nursing Diploma from the University of Surrey in 2006, won the award for a pilot research study to identify the drivers and barriers for UK ethnic minority older people accessing health and social care in the UK, and importantly what being older in an ethnic minority community means.

The study has been seen by many in the field of older peoples and ethnic minority health as making a significant contribution in identifying misconceptions and failings in health and social care delivery plus potential areas for further research. The report has been published through the Department of Health and several NHS Trusts and universities along with equity and diversity groups and campaigners have all requested copies of the work.

The Mary Seacole is annually awarded and jointly funded by the Department of Health and NHS employers. The award provides opportunities for nurses, midwives or health visitors in England to undertake a project, or other educational/development activity, to enhance patient/client-focused care.

Stephanie says of her achievement: “I owe the whole idea to an elderly Asian lady who came onto my ward at East Surrey Hospital critically ill. She was unable to speak English and could neither read nor write, even in her own dialect. As we nursed this lady on the ward, I wondered how I would feel in a foreign hospital unable to communicate and being given treatments that were perhaps not familiar to me. I began to realise that there was a weakness in our training and knowledge and started to find out for myself what might familiar healthcare be for her. It was then that I realised that there was very little research on ethnic minority older peoples health and so decided to explore the subject further, hence my pilot study.

“I am most proud of knowledge that I have gained through those wonderful older people who took part in my study, sharing their experiences and life stories with me. They gave me an insight into their world, their values and their beliefs. It was a privilege and my understanding and knowledge both as a person living in a multi-cultural society and as a nurse has become so much more enlightened as a result of this study and it is knowledge that I want to pass on in anyway I can.”

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