A district nursing sister has been honoured with a top award from the Queen’s Nursing Institute.

Kirstie Websdale, a district nursing sister at East Coast Community Healthcare (ECCH), has been awarded the title of Queen’s Nurse by the community nursing charity The Queen’s Nursing Institute.

Working for ECCH’s Lowestoft Primary Care Home team - which is one of four multi-disciplinary teams of nurses, therapists and social workers who care for people in their own homes and can help them to avoid a stay in hospital - she began her career as a healthcare assistant in 2005.

She registered as an adult nurse in 2011, after attending university, and worked for St John Ambulance and Ipswich Hospital prior to joining ECCH.

After completing her district nursing degree in 2018 she became a district nursing sister.

Ms Websdale - who recently started a secondment with St Elizabeth Hospice which partners ECCH to provide specialist palliative care to people in Great Yarmouth and Waveney - said: "I feel so honoured to become a Queen’s Nurse.

"When I found out, I had such a sense of pride to be awarded the title.

"I am very excited to be able to join our other Queen’s Nurses at ECCH.

"Community nursing is such an important service and so key to people’s recovery because we’re looking after patients in their own homes where we know they recover quicker.

"It’s a very personal type of care and I feel privileged to be able to help people in this way."

She is one of six nurses at ECCH to receive the prestigious title which recognises commitment to high standards of patient care, learning and leadership.

ECCH - which provides NHS community health services across Norfolk and Waveney, with its headquarters in Lowestoft - chief executive Ian Hutchison said: "We’re really thrilled for Kirstie.

"This is a fantastic accolade and very well deserved.

"We are also delighted that we now have six Queen’s Nurses within our organisation."