National
Zimbabwean Nurse Wins Best Nurse In The United Kingdom
1 December 2022
Spread the love

A nurse from North West London who started her career in the NHS age 21 as a hospital cleaner has been named the ‘best nurse’ in the UK.

Dorcas Gwata, 52, who works as a psychiatric liaison nurse at St Mary’s Hospital A&E, won the Best Nurse category in recognition of her work supporting young people involved in gangs and knife crime.

Dorcas Gwata

Dorcas’ work looked at how knife crime is influenced by poverty and race.

After working in her home country in Zimbabwe helping people become more engaged in mental health services, she says she applied what she had learnt when back in London.

She told The Sun: “I didn’t work in an office – I’d wear trainers and jeans and engage with people wherever they were – in McDonald’s, on street corners or in prison.

“One girl came from three generations who had never worked. There was a very strong history of criminality and drug use. She took an overdose, and I helped her. It took a lot of work and she needed a lot of help. Now, she now works in the City. We broke the cycle. Her children, and her children’s children, will see the possibilities because their mother worked. It makes me really proud.”