“FIONA has been my rock and my mum’s godsend. She is the best!”

That was how one nominator described Fiona Taylor, a staff nurse who cares for older people in The Firs unit at Basingstoke hospital, and who was a double winner at the awards.

She said: “I was amazed to even be nominated for one award so it is a huge surprise.”

In another of the nominations, read out by Director of Nursing Donna Green, the relative of a patient thanked Fiona for showing extraordinary care and compassion, and for taking time out of her own schedule to attend the funeral.

One of the awards that Fiona received was the Maggy Wallace award, which is always presented by Maggy, a well-known former nurse and previous non-executive director of the hospital trust.

Fiona, who has worked at Basingstoke hospital since 2009, said: “I was in complete shock when they read out my name for the Maggy Wallace award.

“Maggy is well known in the nursing world, and I was so excited she even knew my name or had read my nomination.”