Jude Receives Her MBE
(11th June 2009)
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Harriers member
Jude Cottam has been awarded
with an
MBE by Prince Charles. Jude was nominated for the award by
Bedford Hospital.
"Judith (Jude) Cottam qualified as a nurse in 1986 and was employed as a stoma
care nurse in Bedford Hospital’s colorectal ward in 1989. In 1998, in response
to the government’s cancer service review, she opened up the service to patients
with bowel cancer and then, in 2000, to patients with inflammatory bowel disease
(IBD). She was joined by another nurse in 1999 and the pair managed the service
until Jude's retirement earlier this year. Between them, they dealt with up to
80 stoma patients per year, looked after 120 bowel cancer patients and managed a
case load of around 280 patients with IBD.
Jude was named Nurse of the Year 2006 at the UK division conference in Leeds of
the World Congress of Enterostomal Therapists and has subsequently been
nominated for a number of community awards, most recently by her patients for a
Pride In Bedfordshire accolade.
In an interview for her Nurse of the Year award, Jude was asked what she enjoyed
most about her job. She answered: “Giving back hope to patients. Having a stoma
still carries a lot of stigma and new patients feel very frightened and
isolated. We do our best to dispel some of their anxieties and remind them that
they are still the same person. Seeing them regain their confidence so they can
go out and start enjoying a normal life again is extremely rewarding.”
Jude has also led national research and audits into stoma care to improve
outcome and experiences for patients, and has dedicated much of her spare time
to fundraising for the patients she cared for every day, noteably completing
this year’s London Marathon, raising over £7,000 towards new endoscopes.
Bedford Hospital Chief Executive Jean O'Callaghan, said: "There is no doubt that
Jude’s attitude to caring, and her dedication and professionalism, have improved
the lives of hundreds of patients over the course of her nursing career.Jude
stood out for her holistic approach in changing the lives of her patients for
the better. Not only did she care for them in a clinical capacity, she pioneered
research to improve the type of care bowel patients are given, and still
undertakes charity work to raise money for treatment and equipment that will
make a positive difference to them."