Released: 18 October 2006

Judges were so impressed by the nominations for two nurses put forward for the annual Nurse of the Year Award they made them both winners.

In an unprecedented step, both Shirley Allen, a Stoma Care and Colorectal Lead nurse, who has just retired from the Royal United Hospital (RUH) in Bath, and Jill Dean, a Nurse Consultant at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, were named joint winners at the Royal College of Nursing Gastroenterology and Stoma Care Forum. The award, which is sponsored by Salts, recognises outstanding lifetime contribution to stoma care and is now in its 16th year. Shirley and Jill were presented with crystal rose bowls at special dinners organised in their respective cities.

Shirley, who received her award after almost a quarter of a century providing care and support to stoma care patients said: "It's a great privilege to know that you've been nominated by your colleagues, the people you work with on a day to day basis and who work alongside you through the good times and the bad. We've got a great team here at RUH and it has been a pleasure to work with them."

Jill, who began her long career as a Clinical Nurse Specialist at the Sheffield Northern General in 1988, said: "There are so many hard working and innovative nurses working in stoma care I could hardly believe I had been nominated and was successful. It is a tremendous honour to have been given such a prestigious award especially as I know that the people who vote for the award are my peers. I would really like to thank everyone who voted for me and also to acknowledge the hard work of my team in Sheffield."