This award is an opportunity for patients, families, visitors and Trust colleagues to say ‘thank you – you made a difference’ to a member of staff or a team for anything (however small!) that helped make their experience of our services better.

Our Winner for December 2020 is:

Andrea Bruce, Baby Friendly Team, Beds

Andrea was nominated by a service user for going above and beyond to support her with her breastfeeding journey.

“No amount of words will be enough to express my gratitude and appreciation for Andrea Bruce an amazing member of the Beds Baby Friendly team. She has been truly amazing, so supportive through my rocky breastfeeding journey from about 10 days old to 18 weeks old. I wouldn't have lasted this long without her continuous support and kind words.

“Andrea always knows exactly what's going on with my case and always follows up after I've had appointments. She has called even when her little one has been poorly to help me and run things through. She's helped me through a rollercoaster journey and emotions, listening to me cry on many occasions and offering further advice, support and encouragement. Never pushing anything, purely offering the best support possible and giving me options and advice. She's helped with tongue tie, big weight loss, supply issues, combi feeding, positioning, feeding options and my mental wellbeing.

“I honestly don't know where I'd be without Andrea. She is a credit to your team. I wish I could meet her face to face for a big hug and bunch of thank you flowers, it's the least she deserves. This is a very rambled message and won't convey just what an angel in disguise Andrea is. I can never thank her enough for supporting me with Felix.”

What an amazing nomination showing the outstanding care provided by Andrea!

Other nominations this month included:

Elaine Montgomery - Senior Specialist Speech and Language Therapist, Cambs

Elaine was nominated by Susie Robertson for going above and beyond to make sure the team stay connected, supported and keep moving!

Elaine said: “I would like to nominate Elaine Montgomery for a Shine a Light Award. Elaine is a Speech and Language Therapist and Locality Co-ordinator in my area of Fenland and Huntingdon. Due to a staff vacancy she has also been covering the co-ordination of another locality and taken on additional clinical responsibilities. Elaine is always so positive and this has an inspiring effect on her team. She has initiated locality huddles, Moving Bingo (yes really!), social activities and CPD to keep the team connected, supported and moving!

“Elaine has just graduated from the Chrysalis Course and has implemented her learning and ideas throughout the programme. Her Action Learning Set’s final presentation used the phrase – ‘what would Elaine do?’ and I wasn’t surprised to hear how reflective and influential she had been on this course. She overcomes the challenges of being a busy, excellent clinician with managing, currently two localities. She does it with a smile and humour and is always there to offer support to staff if needed.

“Over the last few months in particular Elaine has consistently taken on and appropriately delegated tasks to maintain the smooth and effective running of the service in my area. Elaine is a credit to our service and CCS. I would love for her general brilliance to be recognised by receiving the Shine a Light Award.”

Sarah Wisson and Claire Lucas - Special Needs Nurses Administrators, Specialist Children's Services, Beds

Sarah and Claire were nominated by Angie Ahmad for making a real difference to the service and trust with their hard work, support and commitment.

Angie said: “For the last six months Sarah and Claire have not only been managing their day to day work covering the administration of three special schools which is already under resourced they have been going over and above to support me with the redesign of the training programme for Bedford.

“We meet on a weekly basis and I can allocate work knowing by the following week this will be completed to an extremely high quality. I know that to enable this to be achieved they will be working in their own time. This shows the commitment they have to the service and trust. They do this without any hesitation and nothing is ever too much trouble. They are an amazing asset to the Specialist Children's Nursing Team and very worthy of receiving this award.”

Toni Starkey - School Nurse, HCP Children’s Services

Toni was nominated by Ravenna Hellmers for her support and compassion.

Ravenna said: “I'd like to nominate Toni for the shine the light award for her support as my practice assessor for the SCPHN course and for the compassionate and thorough work she does as a School Nurse every day. She has been supportive, inspiring and exhibits excellence in practice encouraging high quality care where the child/young person is central.”

Emotional Health and Wellbeing Practitioner Team - EHW Practitioners, Cambs

The Team were nominated by Sarah Stacey for their positivity, flexible thinking, professionalism, determination and dedication.

Sarah said: “As the Team Lead for the Emotional Health and Wellbeing Practitioners (EHWP) I would like to say how proud I am of the Practitioners who have continued to keep motivated and positive during the past few months when our team numbers have reduced significantly. We have had maternity leave, a secondment and two posts permanently lost all at a time when we have had to devise and implement a new duty line process, think of new ways to support education staff’s emotional wellbeing and adapt our training packages to ensure our core offer to schools is maintained.

“The Practitioners have been able to think flexibly and cover each other’s appointments, help move the service forward at a time of uncertainty and support each other’s emotional wellbeing when colleagues have been leaving the service. All of this on top of working from home and having no "real" contact with each other.

“I would like to say a huge thank you to all of the team, including the administrators and others who have stepped in to support us to keep the duty line open and functioning. We have achieved so much and it wouldn't have been possible without their professionalism, determination and dedication.”

Fantastic nominations this month, well done to everyone who was nominated!