A Sutton cook who tailor-makes her recipes to whet the appetites of seriously-ill children is to be presented with a national award by Prince Harry.

Shirley Moore, 53, “goes out of her way” to get children interested in eating again after intensive care treatment.

And that can mean cooking up a child’s favourite curry, despite it not being on the menu, or even jumping on a bus to buy cheese strings from the local supermarket.

The Royal Marsden employee of 12 years will collect her Outstanding Professional award at the 2017 WellChild ceremony at the Royal Lancaster Hotel on October 16.

“It will be very nice having someone else cook dinner so it is great,” Shirley laughed when speaking with Sutton Guardian.

“It is all a bit overwhelming but very nice.”

Shirley manages the kitchen with seven colleagues at the Oak Centre in the Royal Marsden Hospital Sutton.

A spokeswoman from the Royal Marsden said: “Shirley’s mission is to make the children’s stay in hospital as comfortable and enjoyable as possible and she recognises the importance of nutrition in their recovery which can be difficult when appetite and taste buds are affected by aggressive cancer treatments.”

The Marsden worker said she loves her job and wouldn’t want to do anything else.

She added: “It’s important to get the children to eat. You need to make them something their mum would cook.

“We do that as much as we can. We have a really good menu anyway but if they need something different we do what we can.”

Parents of children who have been treated at the hospital also praised Shirley for her contributions.

One mum, Paula Mason, said: “Even under pressure Shirley always has a smile. All the children love her and the parents really appreciate what she does to make our lengthy stays in hospital a bit better.

"Shirley never hesitated to adapt mealtimes to suit my son’s Dylan’s weird taste preferences as he recovered from chemotherapy. Towards the end of his stay at the Royal Marsden he lived off Shirley’s chilli and complains to this day that I don’t make it as well as her!”

Another mother, Cat Kayum, had her son’s meals prepared by Shirley when her son Louis was a patient.

She said: “Shirley really deserves a WellChild Award as recognition for all that she does and the wonderful example she sets for her team who follow her gentle, patient approach to satisfying their tricky customers.”

Previous stars who have attended the awards ceremony include musicians Rod Stewart and Pixie Lott, comedian Russell Howard and TV presenters Vernon Kay and Tess Daly.

WellChild is the national charity for seriously ill children.