How winning has opened doors

摘要

Winning nurse of the year in 2006 marked the start of the steepest learning curve, says Grace Vanterpool, who is the UK's only African Caribbean nurse consultant in diabetes.'I was invited to no fewer than ten strategic health authorities to talk about my work,' says Ms Vanterpool. They wanted me to tell my story about how we had engaged the community and got senior managers on board. And then I made a presentation at the House of Lords.'Her project - Action Diabetes - helped to raise awareness of the condition among black and minority ethnic communities. lAt the time, I didn't think I'd done anything that was particularly innovative,' says Ms Vanterpool.