Two nurses from Cornwall have won a national award for their inspirational work with bowel cancer patients.

Candy Coombe and Clare Ferris received a Gary Logue Colorectal Nurse Award from the charity, Beating Bowel Cancer, at a conference last week. Candy and Clare, colorectal clinical nurse specialists with the Royal Cornwall Hospital NHS Trust in Truro, received their joint award for their dedication to their patients, their care and thoughtfulness and generally being “outstanding nurses and compassionate human beings.”

The awards were established by the charity in memory of Gary Logue, one of Beating Bowel Cancer’s specialists nurse advisors, who died in 2014. They aim to recognise those nurses who make a big difference to the lives of their bowel cancer patients.

Candy and Clare were presented with their award by Gary’s partner, Cristian Leon, at the National Colorectal Cancer Nurse Network Conference. The joint award included a £500 bursary towards their professional development.

Clare said: “I’ve met Gary when we both won the Carol Baillie award in 2009 at an event at the House of Commons and at other events in the past. He was a lovely man so I’m delighted to win the award, especially as it followed nominations from patients, since this is what our job is all about.”

Candy agreed: “When I heard we’d been nominated for the award I was absolutely thrilled and taken aback. To win something like this alongside Clare, who has been a colorectal nurse specialist for many years, made me feel very honoured. I love my job and work hard to maintain good standards and provide the support our patients and their loved ones need. We work long hours but the work we do is very rewarding.”

Clare qualified in 1985 and moved to Cornwall in 1991 and started the colorectal cancer service in 2002. She then ran it single-handed until Candy joined her in 2009. Her father was a doctor, who died of bowel cancer. She said: “I’ve been through the cancer experience as a relative and this I think this helps me to empathise with other families and want to make sure they are cared for alongside our patient."

Candy joined her in 2009 and in 2013 she set up the Cornwall bowel cancer support group on Facebook, which has a face to face group meeting every two months on a Saturday. The group, which the nurses run in their own time, is very popular and patients come from as far as Devon.

Chief executive of Beating Bowel Cancer, Mark Flannagan, said: “We’re delighted to present both Clare and Candy with this award. Their dedication to their work and their willingness to go the extra mile for their patients is inspiring. We wanted to say thank you to them both for all the fantastic work they do to make lives better for bowel cancer patients and their families.

“They are both inspirational role models for all those who work with cancer patients and they richly deserve this award.”

For more information about bowel cancer, visit beatingbowelcancer.org, or if you have any concerns or queries, you can contact its nurse helpline on 020 8973 0011 or email nurse@beatingbowelcancer.org.