Conquest staff award

She works as a policies and guidelines co-ordinator within East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, responsible for running both the Conquest and Eastbourne DGH.

Her nominee said: "Rae has excelled all expectations in preparing the organisation for inspection by the NHS Litigation Authority this month.

"She worked tirelessly to encourage directorates to ensure that their risk management arrangements were properly documented with the result that the trust passed the inspection.

"This has resulted in a guaranteed insurance rebate of approximately 500,000 each year for the next three years."

Last year, the Trust was successful in achieving 'Level 2 accreditation' against general best practice standards in patient safety and risk.

Only 12 per cent of trusts across the country held this level last year.

Judith Clabby, director of corporate services said: "It is a tremendous achievement to save this money thanks to our high standards in risk management.

"Rae has done a fantastic job in ensuring that the trust achieved this."