A STUDENT nurse from Worcester who has won an award for her tireless work has told of how she had to take the agonising decision to send her daughter away to keep her safe while she was working on Covid wards.

Lucy Pugh, 33, from Worcester, has won the University of Worcester’s Exceptional Care Award for her dedication to providing outstanding care.

Lucy’s dedication to her work is such that, when the ward she was working on at Worcestershire Royal was designated as a Covid-19 ward during the first eight weeks of the outbreak, she took the difficult decision to send her daughter, who has asthma, to live with her father in order to keep her safe.

“We FaceTimed every day, sent letters and presents and organised quiz nights,” said Lucy.

“It was one of the most difficult decisions that I have ever made, but we had an amazing reunion when it was safe for my daughter to come home again.

“Whilst our ward was operating as a Covid cohort ward we still worked hard to promote recovery,” she said. “We never gave up on anyone and always had hope, obviously some patients did become too poorly and providing a positive end of life journey had to be our focus. To see a larger than usual mortality rate was a moving and difficult experience to come to terms with.”

Lucy is studying for a BSc in Adult Nursing having recently graduated from a Foundation Degree in Mental Health at the University of Worcester.

“I’m over the moon to have won this award,” she said. “I feel honoured to care for people. It is truly a gift.”

Lucy was working in payroll for a recruitment company when she first felt called to a career in care.

She enrolled on a university access course to bridge the gap to higher education and left her job in payroll to begin working as a domiciliary carer. After three years working in dementia care she secured a job on a clinical ward at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

Jo Augustus, course leader for the foundation degree in Mental Health at the University of Worcester, nominated Lucy for the award.

She said: “In the care setting, one of Lucy’s great strengths was engaging her patients with their recovery plans and ensuring they were well connected to support in the community so that they were in a strong position to return home and live their lives to the full.”