Family and friends travelled from Dublin to London yesterday to help celebrate Irish-born nurse Miriam Newton's award of an honorary Order of the British Empire (OBE).
Ms Newton, a 40-year-old mother of 16-month-old twin girls, said she was "delighted and thrilled" to receive the award in recognition of her services to NHS-Health Scotland.
Born and bred in Blackrock, Dublin, Ms Newton attended the Holy Child School in Killiney before studying nursing at St Vincent's Hospital. After doing a master's degree in medical science at Sheffield University, she and her husband David - who hails from Ballymoney in Northern Ireland - settled in Scotland, where she has worked in the National Health Service (NHS) for the past 14 years.
As head of the "Healthy Settings" scheme for Health Scotland, Ms Newton developed programmes bringing together multidisciplinary agencies to pool human and financial resources in approaching health issues in community and workplace settings.
She received her award yesterday from Lord Hunt, parliamentary under-secretary at the department of work and pensions, at a ceremony in Richmond House in Whitehall.
Her nomination was made in recognition of her services to the promotion of health and safety in the workplace, and in particular to her contribution to several key initiatives including "Working Back Scotland", "Work Positive" and "Safe and Healthy Working".
Her citation said she had used her exceptional drive and determination to encourage key players to become involved in activities that had made a real difference in improving the quality of people's working lives.
Ms Newton told The Irish Times she genuinely felt "very honoured", while insisting the award was also a "huge testament" to all her work colleagues. "It was completely unexpected but I am delighted and thrilled," she said.
Ms Newton's parents, Brian and Sheila O'Connor from Blackrock, joined other family members for lunch after the ceremony in Richmond House.