A HERO nurse on the frontline saving patients during the pandemic first wave is in the running for a Tele health award.

Louise Tosh moved from a surgery recovery ward straight to intensive care in the early days of the coronavirus crisis.

The 32-year-old from Greenock - who has been nominated in our 'Nurse of the Year' category - spent weeks separated from her loved ones to protect them from the virus.

During emotional phone calls home, her boyfriend was so moved by heartbreaking tales of patients in need of basic supplies that he decided to launch an effort to help.

Louise, who works at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, said: "It is a honour to be nominated but it is recognition for everyone involved.

"It was absolutely terrifying at first, we were all scared and didn't know what to expect.

"It was terrible for the patients, a nightmare.

"I moved into the Bowfield Hotel in Howwood, which sounds lovely, but obviously there was nothing open.

"You were just in a room yourself with a microwave.

"It was so kind of the hotel though.

"We didn't know everything about the virus and I wanted to protect everyone."

During an emotional few months her boyfriend Mark Orr was busy running an appeal for toiletries and other supplies from the couple's home in Fife Drive.

The donations were shipped up to the patients battling for their lives in the QEUH.

Nominating Louise, Mark, who works on the roads, said: "We are all so proud of her.

"At the start of the pandemic Louise phoned me crying from the hospital as other nurses on the wards were telling her that patients had no toiletries because they weren't allowed visitors

"I sent a message out on my family WhatsApp group chat and we raised money to buy a full trolley-load which I delivered up to the QEUH that day.

"I then kept it going by raising cash from work colleagues and friends and delivered numerous trolley-loads to the QUEH, IRH and the three other buildings at Inverclyde Royal, so patients had what they needed."

*The winners of the Greenock Telegraph Health Care Heroes Awards will be announced at an online event on April 15 which can be viewed via our Facebook Page.