A GWENT nurse was named one of the best in the UK when she picked up a second national award for her work.

Maureen Dobbins is an advanced nurse practitioner in the specialty of ear, nose and throat (ENT) at the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport. She won the cancer nursing category at the Nurse 2006 Awards run by Nursing Standard magazine for her work to improve the quality of life for cancer patients.

Her success follows a British Journal of Nursing accolade last year, again in cancer care. Both awards are in recognition of her work on communication issues between patients and those looking after them.

Mrs Dobbins was in London to receive her latest award from Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt.

Her work has two main aims - to improve communication for patients whose head and neck cancers have resulted in surgery involving the removal of tongue and/or voicebox, and to raise the profile and public awareness of such cancers.

These are cancers that often present at a late stage, meaning the action required can be drastic and the prognosis poor.

Mrs Dobbins has researched the communication issues for such patients, particularly in the immediate aftermath of surgery, when many cannot even write down what they want to say.

Robotic voice prosthetics are available for patients who have had tongue or voicebox removed but these are no good in the early days after surgery. By observing patients, Mrs Dobbins gained some insight into the communication problems they experience and has interviewed patients, families, consultants, fellow nursing staff and even the tea ladies.

The latter group brought invaluable insight as she discovered patients often talked or tried to communicate with tea ladies because they did not wish to disturb the nurses, whom they thought might be too busy.

Her ultimate aim for the research, which is supported by ENT consultants and Gwent Healthcare Trust, is that it will inform development of a speech or communication device for immediate post-operative patients.