After years spent empowering nurses behind the scenes, renal clinical nurse coach Melissa Roberts has stepped into the spotlight as Sunshine Coast Health’s 2026 Nurse of the Year.
Recognised for her unwavering commitment to education and practice improvement, Melissa has played a pivotal role in strengthening support for staff, students and graduate nurses across the renal service from Caloundra to Gympie.
“I was very shocked, I think I don’t give myself a lot of credit, I have worked very hard over the last couple of years in this role but I am a believer that all nurses work very, very hard so I wish I could give a little piece of the award to everyone, but I’m very grateful and it is really nice to be recognised at such a high level,” she said.
Melissa supports new and existing staff and students through a range of things including onboarding, dialysis training and professional development.
“It’s quite a highly skilled area and it’s quite an extensive induction period because you’re in charge of this machine that can do a lot for the patient so we go into a lot of detail about the science and everything behind dialysis and what it is, and then my role is to basically encourage staff to independently do that – still with support of the unit,” she said.
“It’s all about not taking over, you don’t give them fish to eat you teach them how to fish, and hopefully off they go, and they feel empowered and confident to go onto their nursing journey.”
She started her nursing career as a graduate at Nambour Hospital’s renal unit in 2018 and quickly found her passion in dialysis care.
“I had very little understanding about what it was, I had never had a placement there, I didn’t really know what to expect and then I loved it - I think it’s one of those areas where, I’ve tried many different little things throughout the last eight years as a nurse, and I’ve always come back to renal and dialysis because the lifestyle is amazing, the hours are great, it’s a really close knit team, and you really get to know the patients,” she said
“Some of these patients have been on dialysis 20 something years so over your lifetime as a nurse you get to know the patients really well and get to build a really great, professional relationship with them.”
Melissa said the best part of her role is watching others succeed.
“When I start to see staff members start to flourish, so if we’ve worked really hard on certain tasks or skills and you start to see it click, and then three months down the track they’re just the most amazing nurse and you feel that little bit of proudness that you were a part of their journey,” she said.
The Sunshine Coast Health Nursing and Midwifery Awards are an annual celebration of achievement, innovation and continued commitment to healthcare and the nursing and midwifery profession.
They are held between International Day of the Midwife (May 5) and International Nurses Day (May 12) to recognise the more than 4,600 nurses and midwives who work across the health service.
Full list of winners
- Nurse of the Year: Clinical Nurse Coach Melissa Roberts
- Midwife of the Year: Clinical Midwife Consultant Emma Turner
- Graduate Nurse of the Year: Registered Nurse Opal Harrison
- Graduate Midwife of the Year: Registered Midwife Annaleise Smith
- Assistant in Nursing of the Year: Assistant in Nursing Vanessa Starky
- Enrolled Nurse of the Year: Enrolled Nurse Chantelle Lister
- Nursing and Midwifery Leadership 2026: Reflective Practice Coordinator Chris Dawber
- Cathy Styles Memorial Award for Emerging Midwifery Leader 2026: Registered Midwife Courtney Lawler