A nurse has made history as the first in Wales to qualify to prescribe medication to care home residents.
Ezelina Dacruz, 50, clinical lead at Glan Rhos Nursing Home in Brynsiencyn, earned the prescribing qualification while continuing in her role.
She studied at Bangor University, and her achievement is being hailed as a potential blueprint for improving social care delivery.
Ezelina said: "I thought having a prescription qualification would really help our residents.
"As the clinical lead, if somebody is poorly in the home I do the GP callouts and I do the e-consultations for the patients.
"I thought me being able to prescribe would make things easier and the residents could get the treatment quicker."
Originally from Malawi, Ezelina has worked at Glan Rhos for 21 years and qualified as a nurse in Malawi in 2000.
She said the Nurse Independent Prescriber course was demanding, but she received full support from her employers and family.
She said: "I had to attend classes, do self-study, we had a lot of assignments and essays and we had to do exams as well, so it was hard work.
"It was quite intensive, it took all my free time.
"But my husband and son were very supportive and they encouraged me.
"The home was very supportive, they paid for the course, and they gave me the time I needed to study and they gave me lots of moral support to encourage me to keep going.
"I must also thank our GP practice, Penbryn Surgery, who were very supportive, with the GPs acting as my supervisor and assessor.
"I am very pleased to receive the special Wales Care Award, it is a real honour and I am very grateful."
A celebration was held at Glan Rhos Nursing Home, where she was presented with a Wales Care Award by Ynys Môn MP Llinos Medi, who attended with Senedd members Elfed Williams and Mair Rowlands.
Her husband Thomas, a consultant in diabetes and endocrinology at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, and their 10-year-old son Joshua also attended.
Wales Care Awards founder and chair, Mario Kreft MBE, who is also the chair of Care Forum Wales, said: "Ezelina is without doubt a trailblazer and she deserves every accolade.
"This is a blueprint for the social care sector going forward."
Llinos Medi said: "Businesses like this are crucial for family life and also crucial for the economy in rural Wales.
"To have a Welsh family running a business like this and for people to be spoken to in their first language of Welsh is vitally important for our communities."
Kim Ombler, registered manager at the 52-bed home, said: "This will really help our clients because it means they won't have to wait for a doctor to come out.
"This has to be the way forward for social care, and it helps the NHS too with bed blocking and patients waiting in ambulances outside hospitals.
"What Ezelina has achieved is amazing and to be the first in Wales makes it extra special."
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