A NURSE consultant at Helen & Douglas House has received a prestigious national award for her work.

Karen Brombley, from Abingdon, won the Queen Mother’s Award for Outstanding Service at at The Queen’s Nursing Institute's annual ceremony in London last month.

The 55-year-old was one of five nurses from across the UK given the award, which is presented in recognition of an 'exceptional contribution' made to the individual care of patients in the community and to the nursing profession through teaching and personal example.

As well as being a nurse consultant in children and young people’s palliative care at Helen & Douglas House, Ms Brombley also teaches at Oxford Brookes and the John Radcliffe Hospital, as well as advising on NICE (The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidelines.

She said: "It felt amazing to receive this award and I wasn’t sure if I had won until I attended the awards ceremony.

"Because it is the Queen Mother’s award, the Queen had to personally give permission for the awards to be given and she signs each award herself. I don’t do my job to get recognition but when you do it’s amazing.

She added: "The NHS is strictly controlled and resources are limited so many aspects of care are now considered extras which have had to be stopped but Helen & Douglas House knows that it’s these extras which could make all the difference to the lives of local families with terminally ill children. We make a real difference and provide something which isn’t provided anywhere else."

Not all children supported by Helen & Douglas House are cared for at the hospice for respite or end-of-life care.

Ms Brombley supports approximately 50 local terminally ill children a year outside the hospice.

One of the families which have benefitted from Ms Brombley's work with Helen & Douglas House is Tania Beale and her 13-year daughter Amana, who has spina bifida.

Ms Beale said: "Karen has provided outreach support to us for a number of years, and knows Amana extremely well now. By visiting at home, Karen has been able to see Amana as herself, in her familiar environment, not just how she is when she comes into Helen House for respite care.

"Amana began suffering from very severe pain in October last year.

"Karen was able to visit us at home on a number of occasions over autumn and into the New Year, and worked with us and the doctors at Helen & Douglas House in order to work out an effective pain management programme."

She added: "Knowing that we can call on Karen massively extends the support we receive from Helen & Douglas House - it means we get the whole experience in our own home, not just for the times we book in for a break."