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Trish Clark is one of Invercargill's quiet achievers.

The modest specialist cancer nurse has been recognised for her outstanding contribution and commitment to her profession and the New Zealand Nursing Organisation by being given a service award at its annual meeting in Wellington last month.

Mrs Clark said she was overwhelmed and thrilled to have received the award.

"I did not know I was going to receive it. It was lovely to be recognised for all the voluntary work. It's also nice for my family who've supported me for all my after hours work that I've done."

Mrs Clark is the immediate past chairwoman of the organisation's Cancer Nurses National Committee and helped develop the national professional development framework document for cancer nurses.

She has also been one of two nurses on the Health Ministry's medical oncology working group and was still involved in the group with research she was leading on survivorship rates of patients with cancer.

"That's my weekend work," she said.

New Zealand Nurses Organisation Cancer Nurses National Committee chairwoman Maureen Morris said Mrs Clark was a role model to cancer nurses who needed to be recognised.

"Trish has made a real difference to nursing and midwifery on a professional level. She has kept the professional arm of cancer nursing at the forefront of the changing health environment and has enhanced the profile of cancer nurses nationally and improved the practice environment for cancer nurses in New Zealand," she said.

Mrs Clark's interest and the development of the national framework would be an example to new nurses taking up the specialty of cancer nursing, Mrs Morris said.

"That hard work and commitment improves outcomes for patients and families."

Mrs Clark, who also has a masters degree in nursing, has been at Southland Hospital for 34 years and in the oncology department for 25 of those years.

In that time she had seen a lot of changes, she said.

Cancer treatments and early screenings of the diseases had advanced considerably.

The alliance between Otago and Southland District Health Board in 2007, to set up Southern Blood Cancer, had also been a great success for the region, Mrs Clark said.

"The service has made a big improvement to patient outcomes."

Mrs Clark heads the hospital's oncology department's nursing team as clinical nurse manager.

While she loved her work, she hoped to retire soon and spend her time enjoying life together with her husband.

However, until then, she would continue encouraging young nurses to up-skill themselves to be the best in their field, she said.

By Amy Milne, as reported in the New Zealand Southland Times