Children’s cancer nurse picks up People’s Choice Award for commitment to care at home and abroad

Children’s cancer nurse and expectant mum Fiona Bruce has won the coveted People’s Choice Award in the Royal College of Nursing Scotland Awards.

The highly contested award category, sponsored by The Sunday Post, was given to Bruce, an Edinburgh nurse who has spent 11 years volunteering to save the lives desperately ill children in Africa.

The paediatric ­haematology/oncology advanced nurse practitioner, has worked at with young cancer patients at Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Children for 18 years while helping to found one of Africa’s most prestigious children’s cancer units.

Along with Edinburgh Oncologist Dr Emma Johnson, and nursing colleagues, she has assisted Ghanian child cancer medics in setting up a leading children’s unit.

Big-hearted trio reach finals of Sunday Post People’s Choice nurse of the year

Twinning Edinburgh’s children’s hospital with Ghana has helped establish seven hospitals giving treatment to 1,300 child cancer patients annually.

Bruce, who is ­expecting her first baby in six weeks’ time, said: “I am hugely honoured and surprised by such a lovely and prestigious award.

“This is for the Edinburgh paediatric oncology team, the nurses and doctors in Ghana and, above all, the children who endure cancer with such bravery. They and their ­parents cope with immense stoicism.”

© Craig Heaslip

The award was presented at a glittering ceremony at the National Museum of Scotland on Wednesday evening.

Colin Poolman, RCN Scotland Director said: “I was touched by all the stories the public shared.

“Fiona stood out for her commitment to the children in her care at home and abroad and for showing the world how caring and generous of heart Scotland’s nurses can be.”

Runner-up Judith Watson, a children’s palliative care nurse, was honoured for her outstanding leadership in paediatric critical care at Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Children.

Henrietta Marriott, who saves lives in rural and remote Scotland was highly commended for her unstinting voluntary work with the seriously injured and ill patients miles from hospital.