Swansea Bay celebrates double success for community-based nursing

Swansea Bay has double cause for celebration after two of its finest were honoured at this year’s Royal College of Nursing Wales Awards.

The annual RCN Wales Awards recognise those who go above and beyond within the nursing community across the country.

This year, Swansea Bay celebrated double success in the Community and Primary Care Nursing category.

It celebrates the achievements of nurses who have made an outstanding contribution to the care of people in a primary or community-based setting.

Paula Heycock (pictured) was named the winner for her work within her role as Head of Nursing for the Primary, Community and Therapies Group.

She was singled out for her excellence in workforce planning and in particular her guidance and encouragement to help team colleagues develop their skills and practice at the top of their professional licences.

Paula’s work has not only improved staff morale but also had a really positive impact on patient experience and reduced unnecessary hospital admissions.

Within her role, Paula has led a workforce planning process which aligns staff capacities and skills with the changing needs of patients.

This has helped to ensure that every member of staff is deployed where they can have the most direct impact on patient care and early interventions.

Staff have also been empowered to extend their skills into areas such as telehealth triage, early intervention home visits and carrying out community-based assessments.

It is Paula’s belief that supporting staff to enhance their capabilities not only benefits morale and retention but also improves patient experience and reduces unnecessary hospital admissions.

Reacting to her win, Paula said: “Receiving this nomination and ultimately winning the award has been an incredibly humbling experience.

“It is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our entire team, and I am thrilled to see our efforts recognised in this way.

“Our commitment to providing the best possible care for our community is unwavering, and this award only strengthens our resolve to continue striving for excellence.

“As a leader in community I feel proud and privileged to lead such dedicated, professional and wonderful teams.”

Hayley Taylor (pictured), the health board’s lead nurse for community cardiology, was named as the runner-up in the same category.

As the lead for the community heart failure service, Hayley’s role sees her help improve the quality of life for patients living with chronic heart failure by promoting a living well ethos.

She uses her expert clinical knowledge and person-centred approach to ensure patients are treated with dignity, empathy and respect.

Hayley has been described by her colleagues as the crucial link between primary and secondary care, which helps to provide continuity of care, as well as reassurance and life-saving education to patients and their families.

In recent years, she led multiple initiatives that have helped transform community heart failure services in Swansea Bay.

These included a quality improvement initiative which supported district nurses to identify and act on early signs of heart failure, and the implementation of an end-of-life pathway in collaboration with specialist palliative care teams which looked at future care planning.

Hayley has also regularly delivered training sessions for GP practices and community nurses to help support the early identification and management of heart failure in the community.

In response to being named runner-up, she said: “I am deeply honoured to have been nominated for this award, let alone reaching the finals and being named runner-up.

“The experience has been both humbling and overwhelming.

“Community nursing is never a solo effort, it thrives on collaboration, compassion, and courage.

“This recognition is not just about my work. It reflects the shared commitment of our teams to improving lives and reducing health inequalities.

“I feel privileged to work alongside colleagues who consistently go above and beyond, often quietly and without recognition, to ensure care reaches people where it matters most.”