Ezelina Dacruz was presented with a Wales Care Award
* As more care is delivered closer to home and within community settings, developments such as this are increasingly important — Malawian-UK Nurses Association
* We are proud to celebrate nurses who are advancing practice, breaking new ground and helping shape the future of care
By Duncan Mlanjira
Described by Welsh online, Nursing Times as a trailblazing nurse, Malawian Ezelina Dacruz has made history by becoming the first in Wales to qualify to prescribe care home medication, with her example being touted as a ‘blueprint’ for the future.
She is a member of Malawian-UK Nurses Association (MUNA) — an embodiment of like-minded Malawi medical physicians based in the UK, which announced Dacruz’s “outstanding achievement”.
“As more care is delivered closer to home and within community settings, developments such as this are increasingly important,” says MUNA in its statement published on its LinkedIn account.
“They demonstrate the vital contribution nurses in social care can make to timely, safe and person-centred care.
“This achievement also offers real hope for career progression and advanced practice opportunities within social care, enabling nurses to develop their practice while continuing to care for people in their own communities and closer to home.”
MUNA thus declares it proudly celebrates nurses who are advancing practice, breaking new ground and helping shape the future of care.
“Congratulations, Ezelina, on this significant and well-deserved achievement,” says MUNA, whose president is Charity Gladstone (MBE).
Charity Gladstone (MBE)
Nursing Times reports that Ezelina Dacruz, 50, gained her prescribing qualification after studying at Bangor University while also working as the clinical lead at Glan Rhos Nursing Home in Brynsiencyn, Wales.
The report adds that a celebration to mark her achievement was held at Glan Rhos Nursing Home, where she was presented with a Wales Care Award by Llinos Medi, Plaid Cymru MP for Ynys Mon.
“Leaders from the social care sector said Ms Dacruz’s qualification could become the blueprint for how social care is delivered in Wales in the future,” says the report.
“They noted that it allowed swifter prescribing and treatment, and reduced the need for GP callouts and ambulances attending care homes to take residents to hospital.”
Llinos Medi presents the Wales Care Award to Ezelina Dacruz
Dacruz is reported to have worked at Glan Rhos for 21 years, who originally qualified as a nurse in Malawi in 2000 and she is quoted by Nursing Times, saying: “I thought having a prescription qualification would really help our residents.
“As the clinical lead, if somebody is poorly in the home I do the GP callouts and I do the e-consultations for the patients.
“I thought me being able to prescribe would make things easier and the residents could get the treatment quicker,” she told Nursing Times, while acknowledging that completing the nurse independent prescriber course had been a challenge.
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She added that the knowledge she gained was invaluable in the care of her residents: “I had to attend classes, do self-study, we had a lot of assignments and essays and we had to do exams as well, so it was hard work.
“It was quite intensive, it took all my free time. The home was very supportive, they paid for the course, and they gave me the time I needed to study and they gave me lots of moral support to encourage me to keep going.
“I must also thank our GP practice, Penbryn Surgery, who were very supportive, with the GPs acting as my supervisor and assessor.
“I am very pleased to receive the special Wales Care Award, it is a real honour and I am very grateful,” said the Malawi, who has also learnt Welsh to help improve the standard of care she’s able to offer residents.
Founder and chair of Wales Care Awards, Mario Kreft is quoted saying: “Ezelina is without doubt a trailblazer and she deserves every accolade.
“This is a blueprint for the social care sector going forward.” said Kreft, who is also chair of Care Forum Wales, which represents 400 plus independent health and social care providers across the country.
“What she has done is a very important step forward and we need more people like Ezelina in the independent care sector.”
Kim Ombler, the Glan Rhos registered manager, said “what Ezelina has achieved is amazing and to be the first in Wales makes it extra special”.
“This will really help our clients because it means they won’t have to wait for a doctor to come out, especially at weekends, when you have to go through the out-of-hours service.
“This has to be the way forward for social care, and it helps the NHS too with bed blocking and patients waiting in ambulances outside hospitals.”
Glan Rhos Nursing Home
She added that Dacruz’s achievement makes the home the 52-bed Glan Rhos as the “first independent provider in Wales to have a nurse with this qualification, and that is something we are very proud of”.
On learning Welsh Dacruz is quoted saying: “Wherever you are in the world, interacting with someone in their language makes them feel you are a part of them.
“It builds a connection, and you often find they open up to you more. I’ve been a nurse for 23 years. Although I did my training in Malawi, I’ve spent most of my career working here in Wales.
“I’ve never done a Welsh course, but I’ve picked up conversational Welsh from my colleagues over the years and it’s made a huge difference to the care I’m able to offer.
“We often find residents with dementia will go back to speaking the language they spoke when they were young, so having the ability to communicate even basic Welsh to the residents is important.
“You don’t need to know a lot – it can be basic sentences like ‘Good morning. How are you feeling? Are you in pain?’ A little goes a long way.
“The way you interact with residents and their families is so important. We support them medically, physically, and emotionally right until the end.
“If I’m managing to make them comfortable in this environment, then that’s a highlight for me,” the Clinical Lead Nurse is quoted as saying.
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