A Rhymney woman was given the title of Nurse of the Year at the recent Wales Care Awards, just seven years after qualifying.
Aine Loughran, 36, won the Gold Award just weeks after securing the job of her dreams as a learning disability nurse with Aneurin Bevan University Health Board.
She was nominated for the award by her former employer Greenhill Manor Care Home in Merthyr Tydfil, where she specialised with profound and multiple disabilities.
Ms Loughran, who qualified as a nurse in 2008, said: “It was truly amazing to have won and a bit of a shock but I managed to stay standing.
“I looked at the standard of the other contestants, many with far more years’ experience than me, and I thought if I were to receive a bronze I would do well.
“I’ll always be grateful to everyone at Greenhill where I learned so much, both from my work colleagues and from the patients. It has been an amazing time for me there and I was so honoured when they nominated me for nurse of the year. They even got behind me when I said I was thinking of applying for a new job.”
Commenting on her new job, Ms Loughran said: “It really is the job of my dreams. I have always wanted to work with people with learning disabilities, so when I saw this job advertised, it was a perfect opportunity for me.”