Team King’s shines bright on the 2025 Nursing Times awards shortlist

A trio of teams and individual staff members from King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust are in the running in this year’s Nursing Times awards.

The Nursing Times Awards bring together the nursing community to shine a light on the brightest talent in the profession, and recognising professionals who are making nursing innovative, patient-focused and inclusive. Finalists from King’s include:

Dani Nebres has been nominated in recognition of a quality improvement project, in which he has implemented equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) training for King’s staff at the NIHR King’s Clinical Research Facility. This training is due to be rolled out to other King’s research teams, totalling over 200 staff across the Trust. Dani said: “This recognition reflects the power of true collaboration and shared purpose. I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has played a part in this journey — especially our exceptional King’s Clinical Research Facility team, whose commitment to inclusive, patient-centred research is both inspiring and unwavering.

“Being shortlisted is already a tremendous honour. I hope this recognition helps shine a light on the importance of inclusive, representative and equitable research — not for accolades, but for the patients, carers, and communities we aim to serve better every day.”

The Vulnerability and Safeguarding Team has been recognised for their Safeguarding and Learning Disability Simulation Training, which was developed by the team to support staff in caring confidently and compassionately for children and young people with learning disabilities, autism and neurodevelopmental conditions. Shevon Dalena, Named Nurse for Children with a Learning Disability, Autism, and Neurodevelopmental Conditions at King’s, explained: “We are so proud of our training programme and the impact it’s had, so to have this national recognition feels incredible. The training has helped create a compassionate, inclusive culture of care, and most importantly, it’s improving the experience, safety and dignity of the young people we support. We are so grateful to everyone who has supported us along the way.”

The Trust’s ERAS Spinal Team has also been selected as a finalist for developing the UK’s first nurse-led ERAS pathway for elective neurosurgical spinal procedures, helping to improve the recovery process. Irene dela Cruz, ERAS Nurse Specialist for Spine Surgeries at King’s, said: “We’ve all worked extremely hard to make the enhanced recovery pathway a reality for our patients. As a result, we can do more to help patients recover faster, experience fewer complications, and bring waiting lists down. This was a real team effort, and we’re thrilled and truly honoured to be nominated alongside some incredible nurses.”

Tracey Carter, Chief Nurse and Executive Director of Midwifery at the Trust, added: “We are all so proud of our incredible colleagues who have been recognised with a Nursing Times award nomination. They have all shown how nursing has the power to transform patients’ lives for the better, and Team King’s will be keeping our fingers crossed for them when the winners are announced in October.”