Heywood woman’s 44 years of caring

Shauna Dixon

A dedicated health worker who has risen from cadet nurse to chief executive has been awarded an MBE.

Shauna Dixon, from Heywood, was given the award in the New Year’s Honours for services to healthcare.

Mrs Dixon’s 44-year career began as a cadet nurse in Ashton in 1966 and she worked as a midwife and health visitor before moving into management and working her way up to Oldham NHS chief executive.

Mrs Dixon, said: “It was a lovely surprise and I’m delighted. It’s a huge honour.

“The sadness for me is that my mother died earlier this year and it would have been lovely for me had she been here to share in it.

“It’s a tribute to everything the people I work with now, and have worked with.”

Mrs Dixon is also the Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Greater Manchester and was a lieutenant colonel with the Territorial Army for 15 years and a matron in a field hospital.

The mother of two, who is married to Bryan, was nominated by NHS Oldham for her huge dedication and unwavering patient focus. The TA providing a supporting letter.

Having gone through further education to get into nursing, she is delighted to see cadets come back into vogue and has has been heavily involved in education and training.

Mrs Dixon said: “I have seen a huge amount of changes in the NHS. But one of the things that has never changed is that people have always been striving to make things better.”

Mrs Dixon is actively involved in SaBRE (Supporting Britain’s Reservists and Employers), a Ministry of Defence campaign to encourage employers to take on members of the reserve forces.