Agnieszka Swiejkowska

Agnieszka (Agnes) Swiejkowska, one of our staff nurses on the Neuro Intensive Care Unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital, received a DAISY Award in recognition of the exceptional compassionate care she provided, anticipating the needs of the patient.

Her nominator, a patient called Aaron also attended the award presentation and read the nomination.

The nomination read: “I spent 10 weeks in the hospital, and my 10 days in the ICU were the scariest and most uncertain. I was lucky enough to have Agnes as my nurse for one night shift and three day shifts.

“I could tell Agnes was a different class of nurse from when she first came over to the bay, asking incredibly detailed questions to get the full picture of my history. She seemed to know what I needed before I did – when I was in delirium and hallucinating, she got me headphones and music to drown out the ICU.

“When I was hot and sweaty from a sheepskin halo around me, she advocated to give me water via the NG tube. She recognised I wasn’t sleeping more than 10 minutes at a time, and so got my bay moved away from the thoroughfare – she made her job more difficult logistically but turned my bed around to look out the window instead of being faced with the reality of an ICU ward.

“In truth, during my time in the ICU I never felt safer and more relaxed about my care than when Agnes was there. I told her all of this to her face and she said, “I’m just doing my job” – but I strongly disagree – she went way over and above what any other nurse did for me during my 10 weeks at OUH.

She’s an incredible professional who took everything in her stride, as alert and in control in the first hour as in the last hour of her long shift. I really hope Agnes gets the recognition she deserves.”

Congratulations, Agnes, and thank you for all you do.