Isle of Wight NHS Trust’s Quality Matron, Siziwe Turner has been honoured with the Florence Nightingale Foundation DAISY Award at a ceremony in London for her leadership that has transformed the standard and quality of care for patients across the Island.
Siziwe was selected as this year’s Florence Nightingale Foundation DAISY Award honouree, out of hundreds of nominations.
Since joining the Trust in 2021, Siziwe has embedded the Quality Assurance Accreditation Scheme (QAAS) to empower and engage staff to improve standards and quality of care. Her commitment to excellence has seen 33 areas now holding Gold accreditation and 13 striving towards Platinum, a remarkable achievement that speaks volumes about her dedication, expertise, and ability to inspire change.
The Florence Nightingale Foundation’s DAISY Award represents one of the highest international honours for a nurse. It recognises nurses who go above and beyond in clinical excellence, compassion, and person-centred care. It’s a reflection of how patients, families, or colleagues experience a nurse’s profound impact – how they make people feel safe, valued, and cared for at moments of greatest vulnerability.
Isle of Wight NHS Trust’s Nurse Director, Laura Neal, who nominated Siziwe for the award said:
“I am immensely proud of Siziwe. Her leadership is the perfect blend of compassion and accountability—she demonstrates that kindness and high standards can, and must, coexist in great care.
“Under her guidance, the QAAS programme has not only been embedded but has flourished, driving sustainable improvement across every service. She is deeply respected for her professionalism, her humility, and her ability to inspire others to be their best.”
Learning the news that she had selected as the winner for the DAISY Award, Siziwe shared what is meant to her:
“It still hasn’t sunk in. To be honoured in this way means so much to me and ultimately it means recognition for what I strive to do everyday as a nurse.
“Achieving the improvements we have delivered at Isle of Wight NHS Trust has only been possible by my wonderful team, and the ambition that our teams have across the organisation to drive up standards of care for our community.”
Siziwe and her team support teams across the organisation to help reach the highest standards of care through the national Quality Assurance Accreditation Scheme is a Patient First initiative that focuses on engaging staff and empowering leaders to improve standards and quality of care.
Isle of Wight NHS Trust’s Chief Nurse, Hayley Peters said:
“I am incredibly proud of Siziwe’s fantastic achievement. To be recognised with a globally recognised award is a true reflection of Siziwe’s leadership and dedication to improving the standards of care for patients and staff at the Trust.”
Meanwhile, shifts are run light at the expense of patient care & staff wellbeing, my husband waited 2 hours for a Porter, due to there only being 2 available for the whole hospital, basic equipment is not replaced due to lack of funds apparently, the excuse being that there was only one bed moving machine that was serviceable, but the IOW hospital can find the money to send its biggest earners to London for a quality in care award? How ironic!
The NHS needs good people and good leaders. This nurse has clearly done amazing things to improve standards in many areas for the benefit of patients and that has been recognised in a national setting which is encouraging for other staff – people feel valued. Are you seriously suggesting that in the NHS such awards should be stopped to save the fare to London? Do you honestly think that such a saving would pay for all the shortfalls you identify? You cannot expect the staff to make up for the shortfall in funding from government. Most of that shortfall stems from 14 years of mismanagement by the previous government which bled the NHS dry. That will not be put right overnight and it is utter nonsense to expect such a recovery to be funded at the expense of the already overstretched staff. The NHS is free at the point of delivery but that doesn’t mean ot costs nothing. Why do people think that those who work in the public sector, almost invariably for less than they could earn in the private sector, should work for nothing? They still have bills to pay the same as everyone else and are still entitled to be properly paid for their work. If you want to have a go at the fat cat managers then do so but to take cheap shots at NHS nurses of any level is frankly pretty low.
Well said.
You would be surprised how many members of
NHS staff are off sick.
Cut sick pay, quickest cure to get employees back
to work.
Congratulations to Siziwe, the island needs more
dedicated persons like yourself.
Keep up the good work.