Sue Hayward, director of nursing at Waikato DHB, said the DHB was presented with the award at the recent Health Roundtable Nursing Improvement meeting in recognition of achievement in the area of “sustainable and sustained leadership development and career progression”.

Waikato’s leadership development includes a programme launched in 2013 of shoulder-tapping new nurses with leadership potential to join a leadership programme run in league with the University of Auckland that involves mentoring, postgraduate study and practice-based research projects.

Hayward said its overall nursing leadership framework was underpinned by local and regional DHB leadership programmes and also included access to postgraduate learning as there was a “fundamental expectation that each individual nurse – regardless of expertise level or designated role – must lead where they stand”.

“The involvement and active participation in ward-based quality improvement activities, peer support, preceptering and delivering learnings from an event are all seen as leadership and recognised as such,” said Hayward. “Confidence builds and of course that can be a great springboard into other nursing roles.”