A MONMOUTHSHIRE nurse who brought her expertise to bear in improving health services for prisoners at Usk Jail has received an MBE in the 2018 New Years Honours.

Louise Rooney, a Senior Nurse with Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, received her award for services to nursing and prison healthcare in Monmouthshire.

Louise began working for the NHS in 1984; her career has taken her from Wales to London and to the United Arab Emirates and Ireland.

In 2011 Louise was managing a ward at Chepstow Community Hospital when she was asked to review health services at Usk Prison from an NHS perspective.

The following year she was seconded there with responsibility for the prison’s health services transferring to the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board and identified an urgent need for improvement in several areas.

Of her time at Usk, Louise said, ‘I love a challenge, so when I was asked I said ‘Yes, no problem. As a nurse, it doesn’t matter what somebody’s background is, we have a responsibility to provide them with care.

‘If you treat people well - within your professional boundaries and afford them dignity and respect and their privacy is maintained, you find you will get respect back.’

Louise has already won Royal College of Nursing Wales and Nursing Times awards for her work. She states news of her New Year’s honour left her ‘totally shocked and humbled’.