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The staff who went the extra mile for us
Bedford Hospital Awards 2007, sponsored by the Times & Citizen.
Bedford Hospital sought to reward the people who have gone the extra mile at its annual awards night on Wednesday. Around 160 staff and invited guests gathered at the Swannery restaurant for an event hosted by chief executive Jean O'Callaghan and chairman Ray Rankmore.
Both paid tribute to their colleagues for always putting patients first, regularly working extended hours and striving to offer both better service and efficiencies.
Mrs O'Callaghan thanked the medics, administrators and volunteers for regularly going "over and beyond the call of duty".
Most of the awards were based on internal nominations but one category, the Patients' Award, sponsored by the Times & Citizen, saw readers of the newspaper and this website detail outstanding treatment they had received.
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LEADERSHIP AWARD
Winner: Phil Harrison
Highly commended: Michael Seaman, Paul Raynor.
Phil Harrison was the winner of the Leadership Award for his work
developing the mortuary service "beyond recognition".
He worked for many hours with architects and engineers to plan the new facility, recognised as one of the best in the country, and in the past year also took on management responsibility for the Bereavement Service, resulting in a streamlined approach much appreciated by the recently bereaved.
Most recently Mr Harrison steered the Trust towards the new licence needed to fulfil the complex requirements of the new Human Tissue Act.
Working with the team for more than 20 years, and leading it for the last seven, Mr Harrison's teaching skills helped all trainees pass their anatomical pathology exams at the first attempt.
The mortuary boasts an excellent reputation with staff, relatives, undertakers and the coroner, and is often selected for undertaking forensic examinations by external pathologists.
Michael Seaman, from pathology, was commended for his work keeping three
different teams together.
And Paul Raynor was also commended for leading A&E in an acting role over two years.
He recently led the team through the implementation of the A&E electronic patient record, also bringing the department back into financial balance and maintaining its 98 per cent target.
He has taken on the management of the endoscopy unit, is assisting central nursing with e-rostering and was praised for always being willing to go in at short notice, covering clinical gaps, including nights.
PARTNERSHIP AWARD
Winner: Maggie Webb
Highly commended: Obs & gynae secretaries; PACS team.
The Partnership Award was made to Maggie Webb for support "over and above what would normally be expected" to the A&E and senior
management team.
She was recognised for her input into effective discharge planning, liaising with social services and the community teams, and also working on major incident planning alongside the PCT, police, fire and the county council.
Highly commended were obs & gynae secretaries, said to be the "most flexible" team of secretaries in the Trust.
They pulled together to help train two new members of staff while maintaining their own work and providing typing support for other areas,
clearing backlogs.
Colleagues from radiology, IT estates, finance and HR were also commended for implementing PACS within the Trust, facing tight
time frames and prescriptive installation processes. The project was hailed as one of the smoothest so far in the national programme by
partners Agfa and Accenture.
UNSUNG HERO AWARD
Winners: Samoo Ummavasee; Margaret Wilkins.
Highly commended: Sharon Cave; Sheena Hawkes and Mary Smith; Amanda Brookes.
Two winners were made in this category – with Samoo Ummavasee, a domestic supervisor, honoured for commitment second to none.
He could always be relied on to work whatever extra hours were required at short notice to ensure that theatres and wards were cleaned and ready for urgent patient admissions – particularly during periods of winter vomiting.
He was praised for "a calm, clear and friendly approach to everyone" and his "can do" approach, regardless of pressure.
Trust chief executive Jean O'Callaghan said nothing was too much trouble for Samoo, and described him as "an excellent ambassador for the hospital".
And Margaret Wilkins was recognised for single-handedly attempting to maintain her service at a very difficult time.
Faced with an unprecedented shortage of consultant staff in her field, she was said to be one person trying to do the work of four, yet managed to juggle available resources in an extremely skilful way.
The category also saw three highly commended awards.
Sharon Cave was recognised for her work during the changes in endoscopy, taking on extra workload and sometimes helping with the off-duty rota. She managed several waiting lists, was instrumental in reducing waiting times and was hailed for being "always willing to do that one more thing for patients, nursing staff and the medical team".
Sheena Hawkes and Mary Smith were rewarded for their teamwork in providing a paediatric phlebotomy service.
They are said to be especially good at working with children who have a
needle phobia, taking time to explain exactly what will happen and helping youngsters overcome their fears over having a blood test.
And Amanda Brookes was commended for her work with the 'agenda for change'. Ensuring the process was fair and equitable, her ability to stand back and review each process without bias proved invaluable to the Trust.
INNOVATION AWARD
Winner: Kathryn Potter and Jill Nettleship.
Highly commended: Harpur Ward.
Winners of the Innovation Award were Bedford Hospital Training Associates Kathryn Potter and Jill Nettleship.
They instigated a new venture to provide hands-on staff training across a number of subjects, and particularly improved infection control techniques on Harpur Ward when the new Cohort Unit opened.
They also generated income by organising training for external care providers.
Highly commended was the Harpur Ward team which developed cohort bays to reduce the risk of C. Diff cross-infection.
Previously responsible for care of the elderly, the team had to learn new infection control measures and took on an increased range of medical conditions.
PATIENTS' AWARD
Winner: Marice Kane.
Highly commended: Maureen Daly; Meadowbank Neo-Natal Unit.
Clinical nurse specialist Marice Kane was heralded as an "uber professional" and an inspiration to all patients in her care.
Specialising in evidence-based care, the winner of the award helps patients become experts in their own care, and was also the first BHT Clinical Nurse Specialist to achieve the extended prescribing award.
One patient receiving treatment for a long bout of rheumatoid arthritis said Marice was "patient-centred, a superb listener and practitioner who always includes me in any decisions".
Others also remarked on her professionalism and contribution to their care.
Urology nurse Maureen Daly was highly commended after being nominated by a patient "for preparing myself and my wife for the worst by telling us the truth about my illness". Further recognition was made of her ability for "somehow always being there at the right time ... before and after my operation".
Also highly commended was the Meadowbank Neonatal Unit, nominated by a parent for the care offered to a terminally-ill boy.
The nomination read: "My son was sent back to Meadowbank in January for palliative care and the team showed great understanding of our needs.
They allowed my family to stay with Adam to the end and their support and kindness continued after he passed away. The care and understanding that we received went far beyond what we expected and whether they win this award or not the team need to be recognised because not only were they professional they were also supportive on a personal level which helped us through our grief."
SPECIAL AWARD
At the end of the evening Mrs O'Callaghan said the ophthalmology department had stood out during the year, also receiving numerous
nominations across the award categories.
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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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