A community-based cardiac imaging specialist helping revolutionise community heart imaging services has won a special award for her pioneering work.

Liana Shirley, whose work to develop a heart imaging service for residents in rural locations has put North Wales firmly on the map as a centre of excellence for community training, was nominated by her colleagues for a Seren Betsi Star Award.

The monthly prize was presented by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board’s Chief Executive Gary Doherty, who handed over the award during a surprise visit to one of Liana’s clinics at Denbigh Hospital.

Liana, an Advanced Senior Echophysiologist, is part of a team of community cardiac specialists who run a mobile clinic helping patients in rural areas access potentially life-saving heart scans.

The clinic, the first of its kind in the UK, operates in communities across North Wales including Denbigh, Porthmadog and Corwen.

It offers patients with potentially life-threatening heart problems access to assessment, diagnosis and treatment close to home, rather than travel to their nearest district general hospital.

Alongside her work in the mobile clinic, Liana and the resuscitation department have developed a training course to pass on the team’s expertise and experience to other clinicians from across the UK. The FEEL course (Focused Echo in Emergency Life support) is the first of its kind in the North West, and is attracting participants from across the country and internationally.

Liana said: “I was quite overwhelmed really! It’s nice to be appreciated and recognised, and it was a lovely surprise – I thought I was just coming here for my normal twice-monthly clinic.

“The clinic looks for patients who are in heart failure – GPs who think their patients could be in heart failure will refer to our clinic, and we take a history, perform a clinical examination, perform an Echocardiogram and diagnose if they are indeed in heart failure before finding the right way to care for them.

“The geography in North Wales means patients are often having to travel miles to their nearest hospital – but we try to be within 30 minutes of as many communities as possible.”

Liana was nominated for the award by her colleague Viki Jenkins, a Heart Failure Nurse Specialist and fellow member of the heart monitoring service.

Viki said: “Liana demonstrates commitment to developing the service to improve patient outcomes and care.

“She goes above and beyond for her work regularly but has openly demonstrated this particularly through her commitment to support the ANP’s further training.

“Liana deserves recognition for her commitment and passion for the team, service and ultimately the patients.”

Gary Doherty said: “I was really impressed by the effort Liana has put in to developing this service.

“She’s developed a service and training which have been recognised across the country and won awards, helping patients not having to travel long distances for the care they need.

“It’s a real team effort, but I’m proud to meet her and hand over this award.”

Staff can be nominated for a Seren Betsi Star award by their managers or team leaders, co-workers or patients, their families and members of the public.

Nominations are then considered and winners selected by BCUHB's 'Proud Of' working groups, made up of a wide cross section of staff from across the health board.

Winners are presented with a certificate, a commemorative Welsh slate trophy and a star badge which they can wear at work.