A nurse who helped an elderly homeless man escape his “heart-breaking” life on the streets has been celebrated.

Alison Willis, a senior sister in Northwick Park Hospital’s A&E department, has been awarded the Borough Commander’s Commendation for helping Jamaican immigrant, Lewis, get a roof over his head.

Alison befriended 76-year-old Lewis when she noticed him sleeping in a bus shelter in the hospital grounds.

She said: “I was finishing my shift in the small hours of the morning and regularly drove past him huddled up in the corner of the shelter on top of a couple of suitcases.”

Alison said Lewis vanished after that until he saw him again in Harrow Town Centre where the pair started talking.

She said: “It was heart-breaking to see an elderly, vulnerable man in those circumstances, especially with winter approaching, so I took it upon myself to help him.

“I haven’t done anything like this before, but it felt like the right thing to do.”

Alison learned Lewis arrived in the UK from Jamaica in 1959.

He became homeless when the person he shared a housing association flat with died and he was asked to leave.

Alison helped Lewis find emergency accommodation, register with a GP and showed him how to apply for various benefits and health checks.

She said: “He’s a man of few words but it was obvious he’d been hard done by and didn’t realise he had rights.”

Alison successfully applied to the Home Office for Lewis’ indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

Her colleagues from A&E, as well as west Harrow neighbours and Free Cycle raised money to furnish a studio flat where the 76-year-old now lives.

Alison and Lewis remain in close contact and she helps him with laundry and cleaning.