Kingston Graduate's Award Winning Life Saving Aid

A Kingston University and St George's Nursing Graduate is one of the two finalists for the RCN Fellows Student Nurse Award. The award is run by Nursing Standard magazine.

Neomi Bennett, 39, has invented a device for helping people at risk of deep vein thrombosis.  The device  consists of a slippery inner sock that helps users put on anti-embolism stockings. The stockings are very tight to help prevent blood clots or emboli  forming in the legs and travelling through the bloodstream to the lungs or brain, causing damage or even death. The stockings are frequently prescribed to bed-bound patients, post operative patients and those with reduced mobility.

Neomi Bennett is a single mother-of-three who left school at 16, has just completed a three-year Diploma for Higher Education in Nursing at Kingston Unversity and St George's, University of London. Ms Bennett decided to train as a nurse after working for a computer company where she enjoyed working with customers and tailoring things to their needs.   

Ms Bennett, who is starting a new job at Trinity Hospice in Clapham, south London, secured her nomination after writing about her invention,

She explained that:

"I came up with the idea while I was on a placement in the community and saw a patient and relative struggling to put on anti-embolism stockings, Patients are often left to their own devices – one woman was so afraid to ask a nurse how to get the stockings on that she ended up using them as curtain ties. That seemed terrible because the stockings can be a life-saver."

Ms Bennett hopes her success will inspire others including her 3 children  to go into Higher Education.

The winner of the Nursing Standard RCN Fellows Student Award will be announced on 28th April at a dinner at The Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel.