Speaking to the Irish News, the Monaghan native explained how the use of new imaging technology meant that 100% of at-risk babies are now screened for preventable blindness.<\/p>\n
When she took over the service for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) only 72.5% of babies were screened on time.<\/p>\n
Introducing a \u201czero-fail\u201d system, this was increased to 100% within three months, with the new technology also allowing nurses to carry out most screenings and allow doctors to focus on more complex cases.<\/p>\n \u201cROP is one of the most preventable causes of blindness in the western world, Stevie Wonder is one of those people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it was unacceptable that we knew which babies were at risk and they weren\u2019t all screened.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re in the neonatal environment it\u2019s all consuming, there\u2019s alarms ringing, cardiac monitors, respiratory issues and ROP gets no one\u2019s attention.\u201d<\/p>\n Starting her nursing journey in 1998, she said it was the care an uncle with brain cancer received in Dublin that first inspired her career.<\/p>\n \u201cI would go up all the time to visit him and I used to admire the nurses, their uniforms and professionalism and how they cared for him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone really respected them. People always say to nurses that they\u2019re amazing for the job they do, but you also get an awful lot back from it and go home feeling you\u2019ve done something beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n While she\u2019s now at the top of her profession, Linda said it wasn\u2019t always an obvious fit.<\/p>\n \u201cI always wanted to do nursing, but the career guidance teacher at my school in Monaghan told me to forget about it because I wouldn\u2019t get the grades,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI did get a job as an auxiliary nurse in a tuberculosis hospital near Dublin, but every time they took blood from a patient\u2019s arm I fainted.<\/p>\n \u201cSo they told me I was useless and not to bother. So I\u2019d say to all the young staff nurses out there to hang in there, if it\u2019s your dream and you really want to do it don\u2019t give up.\u201d<\/p>\n Training in Edinburgh and marrying a Belfast man, she eventually started working for the Belfast Trust as a junior nurse in 2004.<\/p>\n While delighted with the success of her screening programme, she said caring for premature babies was highly challenging.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really difficult for the parents because there are deaths every week.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s also very hard for the nurses and the doctors to keep going and I think there should be some more support for the team.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the parents it\u2019s the hardest job in the world, it\u2019s about managing their expectations and being real and honest about what the journey looks like and supporting them.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the children\u2019s eye service, they are amazing and they\u2019re the dream team. It\u2019s all about working well together and that starts at the top.\u201d<\/p>\n Professor Rita Devlin, head of the RCN in Northern Ireland, said Linda\u2019s determination had delivered \u201clife-changing results.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLinda has not only improved outcomes for families but also set a national benchmark for excellence. <\/p>\n \u201cHer work is a powerful example of how nursing leadership can transform services, reduce risk and make a lasting difference to patients\u2019 lives.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Northern Ireland\u2019s Nurse of the Year has been praised for helping to prevent blindness in premature babies. Linda…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1011060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[2378,23523,1144,7400,24600,16,15],"class_list":["post-1011059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-belfast","tag-health-and-social-care","tag-northern-ireland","tag-nurse","tag-rcn","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116708516147840083","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1011059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1011060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1011059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1011059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1011059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"‘I](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/XYV2THZRQZDLTJLC6KEYKTXLCY.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Cash,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780830503_727_IBRKAJMHXVPE3ME4GL7LANSKIA.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Pictured](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/P6QOH74K35H35HQYVPF33VPJVI.jpg\")
Pictured is (L-R), Sarah Travers, awards host and Linda Hamilton, RCN Northern Ireland Nurse of the Year 2026. PICTURE: RCN ![\"Stevie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/T3YRCWCGYJLXLOECQQWWLPCXWI.jpg\")
International star, Stevie Wonder’s blindness was cause by Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP). PICTGURE BEN BIRCHALL PA <\/p>\n