A mental health nurse described by colleagues as someone who \u201calways put the patient first\u201d and had a smile that \u201clit up\u201d a room, has died of Covid-19, the BBC reported.<\/p>\n
Khulisani Nkala, 46, worked for the Leeds and York NHS Partnership Foundation Trust and died on 17 April.<\/p>\n
The trust provides mental health and learning disability services in Leeds and specialist services across Yorkshire.<\/p>\n
Nkala is the first staff member at the trust to die from the virus.<\/p>\n
The trust\u2019s chief executive, Sara Munro, said she also hoped he would be the last staff member the trust would lose to the disease.<\/p>\n
\u201cKhuli [as he was known] was a well-respected and selfless professional nurse, who always put the patient first, and will be greatly missed by his colleagues,\u201d Munro said.<\/p>\n
She said Nkala\u2019s family had asked for privacy and added: \u201cOur thoughts and prayers are with his family at this difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nkala had joined the trust as a staff nurse in 2015, becoming a charge nurse in 2016. He had previously worked at Stockton Hall Medium Secure Care Hospital, near York.<\/p>\n
He was also an active member of the trust\u2019s Workforce Race Equality Network and its chair, Wendy Tangen, said he would be \u201cmissed dearly\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cKhuli was a man of integrity, honour, wit and a smile that lit up any dull room.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe believed in fairness and I often had conversations with him on improving the care we offered to our service users and supporting the progression of our Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) staff members.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis ability to develop sound relationships and put people at ease was astounding, nothing appeared to faze him, and his presence gave calmness and confidence in difficult situations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A mental health nurse described by colleagues as someone who \u201calways put the patient first\u201d and had a smile that \u201clit up\u201d a room, has died of Covid-19, the BBC reported. Khulisani Nkala, 46, worked for the Leeds and York NHS Partnership Foundation Trust and died on 17 April. The trust provides mental health and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":21372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1361,7],"tags":[1388,1208],"class_list":{"0":"post-22373","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-coronavirus-in-zimbabwe","9":"category-files","10":"tag-covid-19","11":"tag-health-committee"},"yoast_head":"\n