‘It’s a real privilege’: Highland lifeboat volunteer Mhairi tipped for top nursing award

The Royal College of Nursing Scotland has launched its prestigious annual awards to find those who go above and beyond the call of duty for patients.

The Sunday Post is delighted to announce that we will continue to sponsor the People’s Choice Award to recognise nurses, midwives or nursing support workers.

Our readers are being asked to help find a winner for the People’s Choice category.

We want you to nominate those incredibly hard-working health professionals who go that extra mile and more.

Our first nominee is staff nurse and RNLI lifeboat volunteer Mhairi Ross, 47, who works in A&E at Caithness General Hospital in Wick.

As well as her job in a frontline emergency unit, she is also a paramedic covering the north-east of Scotland with the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Her RNLI Wick lifeboat station shouts cover one of the most treacherous seaways off the UK coast.

“Like many others who work in the NHS, I get great job satisfaction from helping patients who are ill or injured and at their most vulnerable,” she said. “It’s a privilege to be able to use my skills as a nurse or paramedic.

“There is no greater feeling than pulling someone from the sea on a lifeboat when they are close to drowning.

“It is then that my 31 years nursing and, latterly, paramedic skills are put their best use. Some have hypothermia or other trauma injuries.”

Her “beat” on the North Sea can see waves reach 65 feet high and weather change from calm to stormy in minutes.

It is deemed to be one of the most dangerous seas in the world with its wild storms and foggy winters.

Currents are strong and often pull in different directions.

Mhairi said: “Wick can get quite rough quickly but we have a brilliant crew of volunteers on board our lifeboat.”

Her love of supporting lifesaving causes extended to an incredible row around almost the entire coast of the UK with her partner Allan Lipp, the lifeboat coxswain.

They spent their summer holidays rowing to raise almost £70,000 so far for the RNLI and Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance.

She said: “It has been the experience of a lifetime where everything is done on board a 22ft-long boat called Boudicea, named after the queen of the ancient British tribe Iceni.

“We even managed to make a cuppa on a small stove.

“Our trip so far has covered 1,462 nautical miles around Britain, with approximately 226 to go.

“After reaching Tobermory in August, we were unable to identify a possible weather window to allow us to row around the exposed Ardnamurchan peninsula this year.

“So we will complete it over two weeks when the weather improves next summer. We can’t thank everyone enough for their support.”

With the break in her holiday marathon row she was back to her patients in August – caring for them from birth to the end of life.

Accident and emergency nursing covers seriously ill patients who have been injured in road accidents, suffered strokes or heart attacks and other medical emergencies.

“Nursing is a job where you can make a real difference to people’s lives,” she added.

The RCN Scotland said: “Every day, nursing staff touch the lives of their patients and their families while delivering care.

“The People’s Choice Award is the Scottish public’s opportunity to thank a nurse, midwife or nursing support worker who has made a difference to their, or a loved one’s, care.

“Whether the care is fleeting or long term, it’s important that the public have their opportunity to share positive experiences which highlight those nursing staff who have gone the extra mile and deserve to be thanked and recognised.”

Entries can be submitted online or by post.

Patients, clients, residents are being asked to consider those who made a difference to their lives.

Entries should come from patients, colleagues and members of the public.

Post your nominations to RCN Scotland Awards, People’s Choice, RCN Scotland, 42 South Oswald Road, Edinburgh EH9 2HH.

Enter online at rcn.org.uk/ScotAwards Scroll down to People’s Choice.