A children’s nurse from Herefordshire has won a global award recognising his contribution to the nursing community.

Ricky Baker founded the Children and Young People Student Nurse Network which has won the coveted Rising Star award at this year’s Zenith Global Healthcare Awards, and also received a commendation for the category Outstanding Team of the Year.

Mr Baker said: “To win this award, and to be recognised globally is an amazing achievement, and it all began whilst I was a student.”

He created the peer group in 2020 while still at university to provide support that was ‘fundamental’ to student nurses across the UK at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Not only did we keep people connected, we educated and kept students up-to-date with relevant information and alleviated any anxieties they were experiencing,”, he said.

“We have had an overwhelming amount of support from lecturers up and down the country, and this sees our network advertised to child nursing students in both educational and NHS settings across the UK.”

Mr Baker, from Eardisley near Kington, is now a fully qualified children’s nurse after graduating from the University of Worcester’s nursing programme last year.

Robert Dudley, head of the university’s Three Counties School of Nursing and Midwifery, said: “We are very proud of Ricky and all his many achievements. He was an outstanding student and the peer network he set up during his studies has been a fantastic success.”

The network is run by students who volunteer their own time to provide peer support and educational materials to student nurses across the UK.

He has also been part of the group who picked up the Health Care Team Award in this year’s Hereford Times Health and Social Care Awards.