By Staff Reporter & oxfordhealth.nhs.uk

Zimbabwean nurse Wendy Matshazi recently clinched the Exceptional People Award for Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust with a record-breaking 27 nominations from colleagues.

Wendy, who is Learning and Development Lead for Nursing Associate for Oxford Health, won the award this March for her “unwavering support” for nurses transitioning from their home countries to the UK and preparing them for their registration exams here.

She developed their induction and exam preparation programme from scratch, enabling more than 100 nurses to pass their exams and join the Trust.

CEO Dr Nick Broughton congratulated her at the ceremony at Trust HQ at Littlemore, saying her 27 nominations from international nurse recruits and other colleagues were unprecedented in the history of the awards.

Becky Elsworth, Apprenticeship Manager, one of those who nominated her, wrote:

“Wendy has been instrumental in the success of our training programme. Compassionate, energetic and relentlessly positive, Wendy consistently considers the needs of our learners. These qualities have led to such successful outcomes for our nurses, the clinical teams and the Trust.”

Diane Woodward, Nursing Workforce Transformation Manager said:

“Our nurses always comment on the amazing and unwavering support that they have received from Wendy. When they are doubting their ability to pass the OSCE (objective structured clinical examination), she is relentlessly positive. When nurses receive the message that they have not passed, she is the first person they call for support. She helps them to see their skills, experience and abilities and provides reassurance at a very lonely time away from their families and friends in their home country.”

Talking after the ceremony, Wendy said:

“I got really emotional. I was just in awe hearing the nominations, it was mind-blowing. When you’re just doing your job, you don’t understand the impact of your work and how it’s changed people’s lives.”

Wendy, who came to the UK as a nurse from Zimbabwe, six years ago, added: “I feel appreciated and really motivated because my efforts have been recognised by the organisation. I feel I really want to do the best I can.”

Wendy with her certificate