The director of nursing and quality at Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT) has been given a medal after completing the Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship.
The newly designed Churchill medallion was presented to Anne-Maria Olphert at a biennial ceremony in London’s Church House.
Olphert travelled to New Zealand in 2015 as part of her fellowship, while she was working for Erewash Clinical Commission Group (CCG).
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While she was there she investigated end of life care and compassion in practice with the aim of improving both the commissioning and delivery of care across all providers.
She said of the fellowship:“It provides opportunities for UK citizens to go abroad on a worthwhile project of their own choosing, with the aim of enriching their lives through their global experiences – and to bring back the benefit to others in their UK profession or community through sharing the results of their new knowledge.”
When she returned, Olphert took up her role as LPFT’s director of nursing and quality in January 2016.
The medal’s designer, Professor Brian Clarke, who is also a renowned architectural artist, presented the award to Olphert along with 128 other fellows.
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Clarke, who was a Churchill fellow in 1974, praised all the fellows for their outstanding achievements: “I know from personal experience that the Fellowship represents a wonderful opportunity.
“I am continually amazed and inspired by the Churchill Fellows dedication and commitment to making a difference in so many areas affecting today’s society,” he said.
The ceremony was held a Church House, a makeshift Houses of Parliament during the war, where Churchill made his famous speech announcing the sinking of the Bismarck on 24 May 1941.
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The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust set up the travelling fellowship after the former Prime Minister died in 1965.
As his national memorial, the trust funds British citizens from all backgrounds to travel overseas to find new and better ways of tackling a range of current challenges facing the UK.