Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, Stockport Council and Manchester Metropolitan University have won a national award for their joint work training students in public health.

Training and public health staff triumphed in the ‘Partnership of the Year’ category in the Student Nursing Times Awards.

The local NHS, university and council staff have been working together to promote the importance of public health, including a special open conference day where the team were able to meet nursing students and encourage them onto further public health placements. There is growing recognition of the crucial role that healthcare students can play in public health and health promotion with their patients. This popular training and promotion has equipped the student nurses to help patients improve their own health, for instance with advice on diet, exercise, and alcohol intake. 

Judith Morris, Director of Nursing and Midwifery at Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Stepping Hill Hospital, said “We are hugely pleased the joint efforts of the training, university and public health staff have been recognised by winning this Student Nursing Times Partnership Award. As the name implies, it was a real tem effort.

“The future is going to depend more on health and social care staff working more closely together, giving people the support they need to live independently and to manage their own conditions. In providing this training together with Stockport Council, and with the help of Manchester Metropolitan University we are helping to produce nurses fit for the future, helping people to help themselves.”