[H]ealthcare heroes at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) were honoured at the Trust’s sixth Health Heroes Award ceremony at the Lancaster House Hotel on Friday evening (23 March 2018).
Around 140 staff, volunteers, governors and fundraisers joined together at the annual awards ceremony which honours those on the front line of hospital life, and those hard at work behind the scenes at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI), Westmorland General Hospital (WGH), Furness General Hospital (FGH), Ulverston Community Health Centre and Morecambe’s Queen Victoria Centre.
Winners were announced in nine categories during the ceremony with individual staff members and teams from across the Trust taking home the top awards.
Dame Jackie Daniel, Chief Executive, UHMBT, said: “We’d like to thank everyone who attended the awards ceremony and also those finalists that couldn’t make it. They are a real credit to the Trust and we can’t thank them enough for all they do. We hope these awards make them feel proud for playing their part in the care we offer to patients across our hospitals.
“Well done to everyone who was nominated, regardless of whether or not they received the winner’s award – all very much deserved.”
The winners were:
Excellence in Patient Safety award
Katherine Mason and Janet Singleton, diabetes specialist nurses
Going the Extra Mile award
Bay Hospitals Charity Volunteer Team, FGH
Outstanding Improvement in Patient Experience award
Theatre, Surgery and Critical Care Team
Innovation and Research award
Dr Asim Ijaz, Consultant
Student/Trainee of the Year award
Dr Ryan Metcalfe, foundation year 1 doctor
Bay Health and Care Partners’ Transformational Change award
Ruth Keeler, Vicky Lumley and Jodi Slater, BCT Careers and Engagement Hub
Inclusion and Diversity award
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) network
Leader of the Year award
Karen Kyle, Associate Director of Strategy and Contracting
Star of the Year
The ‘A great place to be cared for’ winner
Sandi Cronje, Clinical Support Worker
The ‘A great place to work’ winners
Dr Evelyn Barrie, Associate Specialist, Dr Luca Pensabene, Associate Specialist Doctor and Mr Husam Elbana, Associate Doctor.
Following their victory, Katherine Mason and Janet Singleton, said: “We are both delighted to have been recognised for our contribution to the improvement of patient safety for all of our patients with diabetes admitted to hospital. We would also like to attribute credit to the nursing and medical teams who work alongside us to improve standards and deliver high quality safe care.”
Vicky Lumley, Careers and Engagement Lead for the BCT Careers and Engagement Hub, said: “We were so excited and surprised to find out that we had been nominated for one of the Health Heroes Awards! To win the Transformational Change award means so much to us; it feels amazing to gain recognition for the work that we are doing and to know that it is making a difference.”
Heidi Bowron, Membership and Charity Engagement Co-ordinator for Bay Hospitals Charity, said: “I work closely with the volunteers at Furness General Hospital and I’m so proud that they were hailed victors of their category. They really do go above and beyond to support Bay Hospitals Charity and have worked really hard to help us raise over £200,000 for the Bayb’s maternity appeal.”
Pearse Butler, Chair, said: “Some staff were nominated because their colleagues felt they deserved special recognition for their work; and others were nominated because our patients or their families felt that they went over and above to provide the best possible care to them. All of these reasons are testament to all of the staff nominated and they should feel very proud of themselves.
“It is individuals and teams like these that make this Trust a great place to work and a great place to be cared for. We hope the awards go some way to showing them how much the work they do is appreciated – not just by the Trust Board, but by their colleagues and most importantly, our patients and the local public.”