Catherine O'brien
February 2026
Catherine
O'brien
,
RN
Surgery
Bedfordshire Hospitals
Bedford
United Kingdom
She brings teams together, supports and challenges within teams, and brings out the best in individuals and the teamwork they create.
Cathy epitomizes the THRIVE values of the Trust in her support for all staff and the essence of the DAISY Award in her skillful and compassionate care for patients and their loved ones.
“Teamwork has been a strong value for Cathy across her career in various roles. She brings teams together, supports and challenges within teams, and brings out the best in individuals and the teamwork they create.
Honesty and openness – we all know Cathy will be completely honest and is a warm and open lady. Whether its staff feedback or advocating for patients and loved ones her calm perseverance to support the best care for patients or a moment of humour and stress release between colleagues.
Staff in the Trust have a huge amount of respect for Cathy; this is because of the way she respects others in everything she does. Cathy will think of things no one else has considered and support challenging situations with a pragmatic fair and inclusive approach.
No one is left out; everyone is welcome, and everyone is considered for their perspective. Staff, patients and their loved ones feel valued, supported and listened to.
Cathy has a knack for knowing how to calmly and quietly be where she is needed, support staff, and in doing so supports patient care, flow through the hospital, and quality care. This means we’re all a bit more excellent for working with Cathy.
When you stop to think about a colleague, you realise how much they bring to the organisation, to their team, to all the staff in the Trust and most importantly to individual patients, both in person and through the work they do to set up services, ensure quality through governance and generally push us all – in a really nice way.
From critical care, practice development, matron and deputy head of nursing, from setting up SAU, being FIRPtastic, supporting many other services as well as everything in groups 1,2 and 3 – Cathy, we really value your knowledge, support, leadership and friendship. We have all learned so much from you.
Cathy is truly the biggest DAISY of them all.
“Teamwork has been a strong value for Cathy across her career in various roles. She brings teams together, supports and challenges within teams, and brings out the best in individuals and the teamwork they create.
Honesty and openness – we all know Cathy will be completely honest and is a warm and open lady. Whether its staff feedback or advocating for patients and loved ones her calm perseverance to support the best care for patients or a moment of humour and stress release between colleagues.
Staff in the Trust have a huge amount of respect for Cathy; this is because of the way she respects others in everything she does. Cathy will think of things no one else has considered and support challenging situations with a pragmatic fair and inclusive approach.
No one is left out; everyone is welcome, and everyone is considered for their perspective. Staff, patients and their loved ones feel valued, supported and listened to.
Cathy has a knack for knowing how to calmly and quietly be where she is needed, support staff, and in doing so supports patient care, flow through the hospital, and quality care. This means we’re all a bit more excellent for working with Cathy.
When you stop to think about a colleague, you realise how much they bring to the organisation, to their team, to all the staff in the Trust and most importantly to individual patients, both in person and through the work they do to set up services, ensure quality through governance and generally push us all – in a really nice way.
From critical care, practice development, matron and deputy head of nursing, from setting up SAU, being FIRPtastic, supporting many other services as well as everything in groups 1,2 and 3 – Cathy, we really value your knowledge, support, leadership and friendship. We have all learned so much from you.
Cathy is truly the biggest DAISY of them all.