29 December 2023

Date: 29 December 2023

Chief Nurse for Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, Professor Liz Rix has been awarded her MBE from the HRH Prince of Wales in recognition of her dedication to nursing.

Liz’s NHS career spans more than four decades, with nearly twenty years as a Chief Nurse.

She joined PHU as Chief Nurse in 2019 and has led the professional development of the nursing, midwifery and allied health professional (AHP) teams and led on quality safety and patient experience.

Her family watched on as she chatted with Prince William during the ceremony at Buckingham Palace. The pair discussed the NHS and also reminisced at the Prince’s time in the RAF and within the emergency air ambulance service.

Liz, who hails from The Mumbles near Swansea originally, said: “This was a very special day.

 It was an honour to receive my award from Prince William with my family present. He was so approachable and put everyone at their ease. We chatted about the NHS and he asked specifically how the staff at PHU are doing. I felt that I was receiving this on behalf of our profession.  I have worked with fantastic colleagues across the NHS and felt that this was for us all.

“Seeing so many other people there who are dedicated and committed to their work was a real privilege.”

Liz began her nursing journey at the West Glamorgan School of Nursing, training at Singleton and Morriston Hospitals, and has worked in different areas including Intensive Care and Surgery.

She spent the first 18 years of her career working in NHS Wales and was the Director of Nursing in Swansea and Bridgend before taking up her first Chief Nurse post in 2009 at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire (now University Hospital of North Midlands).

After joining PHU in 2019, she was made an honorary professor by the University of Portsmouth as recognition of her leadership role within the profession and the health service and as part of the partnership between the two city organisations.

She is passionate about development and education in nursing and midwifery, leading the creation of the Trust’s latest Nursing and Midwifery strategy and supporting the launch of the Trust’s first Nursing and Midwifery conference last year.

Liz added: “As a student nurse a long time ago I can remember our nurse tutors saying to us ‘in this classroom some of you will be ward sisters’ and I thought well that’s not going to be me.

“Forty-one years later I am a chief nurse and I have done a job I have absolutely loved.

“It still hasn’t quite sunk in that I have got an MBE for doing a job I love but I have been a nurse for 41 years, nearly 42, and I worked with incredible teams and incredible people, both in Wales and England.

“I hope to see some of those incredible people go on to be recognised in the same way for their dedication to the NHS in years to come”