A nursing lecturer who has Harry Potter characters named after her has won the lifetime achievement award at this year’s Nursing Times Awards.
Professor Tonks Fawcett took home the coveted Chief Nursing Officers’ Award for Lifetime Achievement during the ceremony tonight held in London.
“Nurses and other clinicians continue to rise to the many challenges”
Steve Ford
Alongside her many academic achievements, Professor Fawcett inspired the characters Nymphadora Tonks and S. Fawcett in the Harry Potter series.
Qualifying as an adult nurse in 1976, Professor Fawcett has spent most of her career at the University of Edinburgh, progressing from clinical tutor to professor over four decades.
She was among 26 award winners celebrated tonight at the Nursing Times Awards 2026.
Susie Lagrata, advanced headache nurse practitioner and lead nurse from University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, was named Nurse of the Year.
Susie Lagrata
Judges described her as an inspirational nursing leader who has transformed her specialist area locally, nationally and internationally through pioneering nurse-led services, workforce development and clinical innovation.
Team of the Year went to Barts Health NHS Trust’s adult critical care transfer service, whose work impressed the judges so much that they wanted to see it expanded nationally.
Other winners included Nikola Szymanska, a nurse at social care provider HC-One, who received the Ann Shuttleworth Rising Star Award.
Qualifying in 2022, Ms Szymanska is already innovating and has developed new pathways to boost residents’ nutrition and hydration in a personalised way.
Judges said Ms Szymanska was a powerful advocate for the value of nursing in social care.
Barts Health NHS Trust adult critical care transfer service team
Meanwhile, a project that combined nursing and the arts won James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust the award for Clinical Research Nursing.
Claire Whitehouse, senior nurse for nursing research at the trust, led a project that saw the trust partner with a circus centre to engage groups including people with special education needs and refugees in health research.
Nursing Times editor Steve Ford said: “Congratulations to all our winners at the 2026 Nursing Times Awards.
“Each year our judges are impressed, inspired and heartened by the great work being led by nurses and their teams around the UK, and this year is no exception.
“The health and social care system is under pressure like never before, but nurses and other clinicians continue to rise to the many challenges.”
The full list of winners from the Nursing Times Awards 2026
Ann Shuttleworth Rising Star Award: Nikola Szymanska — HC-One
Care of Older People: DHU Healthcare — Community Virtual Ward
Children’s Services: Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust — Core Needs
Clinical Research Nursing: James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust — The Circus Project
Continence Promotion and Care: King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust — From Retention to Recovery: A nurse-led continence pathway transforming post-operative spinal care
Critical and Emergency Care Nursing: East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust — The Eco Bed-Space
Dame Elizabeth Anionwu Award for Inclusivity in Nursing and Midwifery: Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust — Integrated diabetes and advanced chronic kidney disease clinical and research programme
Infection Prevention and Control: South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust — A-Z app
Ingrid Fuchs Cancer Nursing Award: South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust — Nothing About Us Without Us: Co-producing a new model of care for people living with cancer
Learning Disabilities Nursing: North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust — Building the registered nurse for learning disabilities workforce – T-level student placement initiative
Midwife of the Year: Sabrina Fogg — Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust
Nurse Leader of the Year: Sherwin Criseno — University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
Nurse of the Year: Susie Lagrata — University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Nursing in Mental Health: Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust — Efficient perinatal mental health – a nurse prescriber model
Nursing in Primary Care: Staffordshire Training Hub — General practice nurse foundation school
Nursing in Social Care: NeuroResponse — Personalised UTI digital care pathway
Nursing in the Community: Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, University of Bradford and West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board — Community nursing student-supported service placement
Patient Safety Improvement: Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust — Improving patient safety through a trust-wide safeguarding duty hub
Public Health Nursing: Institute of Health Visiting — Bringing fathers’ mental health into focus
Sustainability in Nursing and Midwifery: South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust — Shared wound care – delivering sustainable, low‑carbon wound management
Team of the Year: Barts Health NHS Trust — Adult critical care transfer service
Technology and Data in Nursing: Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust — The Comfort Tracker
The King’s Award for Integrated Approaches to Care: King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust — Helping hands sensory blood test clinic
Theatre and Surgical Nursing: King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust — Enhanced recovery after surgery for neurosurgery
Chief Nursing Officers’ Award for Lifetime Achievement: Professor Tonks Fawcett — University of Edinburgh