Intensive care expert crucial to hospital's covid response becomes first female doctor to win prestigious award

One of Manchester's most experienced intensive care consultants who worked on the coronavirus frontline has become the first female doctor to win a prestigious national award.

Professor Jane Eddleston is Joint Group Medical Director of Manchester University and also works as a critical care consultant at Manchester Royal Infirmary. Her expertise was crucial to the hospital trust's pandemic response plan - which saw thousands of patients across Greater Manchester successfully treated for the effects of Covid-19.

She also appeared at a Downing Street press conference in October 2020 to warn of the effect the virus was having on the region's hospital capacity. And, she was instrumental in ensuring the trust had the equipment needed to save lives.

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Prof Eddleston has now been awarded a gold medal by the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine - the first time a woman has been given the honour.

The award citation highlighted her contributions in patient care, professional leadership and research - saying that "many working in intensive care medicine today have been influenced by her and many patients and services have benefited from her vision and drive for improvement."

Jane, originally from Stirling in Scotland, said that news of the award had taken her by complete surprise. She said: "I got an email saying congratulations and that I’d received the award. I had to look at it several times to make sure it was real. This may have been given to me as a personal award but I couldn’t have done it without everyone else who has helped me through my career.

"It was just amazing, especially to know that I was the first female doctor to receive this honour. It was