by
Kirstie Flack
| Dec 17, 2015
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.
The joint winners for December are:
Debbie Chandler, IT Project Manager, IT, the Meadows St Ives 
Debbie was nominated by James Gingell after receiving numerous examples of outstanding feedback from staff and managers following the successful transition of the Norfolk HCP service into CCS. The feedback outlined that Debbie had gone above and beyond the normal expectation to resolve issues and has been described as being approachable and understanding of the clinical issues and the importance of ICT. Despite demanding pressures Debbie was described as remaining calm and welcoming and highly efficient at resolving issues, was approachable and supportive.
Lynn Otti, Senior Nurse Practitioner, Luton Drug Service, Clody House, Luton
Lynn was nominated by one of her patients for making a huge difference in supporting them from being a challenging, using addict/alcoholic, to a clean and sober person with hope, motivation and a future. Lynn was there every step of the way, not only seeing her in Clody House, but ringing her, always telling her the truth, which had been essential to their relationship. Lynn supported this lady in hospital (mental health) getting her into respite house.
Lynn always had the time for her and for her personally not having any close family; it has meant the world. The patient said: “that at times working with me must have been frustrating and felt like hitting a brick wall, however, Lynn never turned me away, always believed in me and cared for me when I was unable to care for myself. I have used services for many years, and I feel Lynn has done not only her job but more and without her constant support I do not think I would be clean and sober and looking forward to a happy future, going to college/university, being a good mum and I have found faith.”
Congratulations to Debbie and Lynn on winning this month’s award.
Other nominations included:
iCaSH Lowestoft, Regent Road
The team were commended by Alison Chaplin for working hard to integrate into the service bringing over so many skills, knowledge and experience. They are a small team, isolated in the most north easterly part of Suffolk; they continue to see a high volume of patients, and have adopted all changes in working without hesitation, cheerfully and worked hard as a team to support each other. They embraced and easily adapted to a new EPR system, having only moved onto a previous system the year before. Patient feedback is consistently good. A recent audit indicated that although there are only 5 nurses, they see around 600 patients a month, and waiting times for walk in clinics are under 20 minutes. They are willing and eager to undertake any training required of them to become an integrated service and take the service forward.
TB nursing team within CCN team, Luton
The team were nominated by Lynn Fanning after a backlog of 1,500 babies were required to be immunised, in Luton, after a national shortage of BCG vaccinations. The TB specialist nurse (Maureen McGovern), TB nurse (Zubeda Shakil), 2 CCNs (Joanne Burgess and Kirstie Swannell) and admin staff (Sandra Proctor) worked tirelessly in a catch-up programme which included 4 clinics a week and a weekly Saturday clinic and to date they have been able to reduce this number by more than half. This has been possible through hard work and flexible working of all of the staff involved including giving up their Saturdays to cover the clinics.
Community Phlebotomists, Luton Treatment Centre
Caroline Birchall, Gillian Wardell, Anna Wcislo were nominated by Sarah Munroe and Rachel Kremer as the team have struggled with staff shortages due to sickness over the last 6 months. They have worked tirelessly to keep the service afloat over this period of time. Taking on extra visits without complaint and continuing their workload at a gold standard level. The commitment that they have shown is nothing short of inspirational.
Jenny Garcia, Dentist, Huntingdon
Jenny was nominated by one of her patients for being extremely professional, demonstrating a superb bedside manner and an excellent ability to communicate effectively. She explained the problem clearly, treatment options and future treatments that would be required. The service provided was excellent. The whole team were friendly and professional and are a true asset to Cambridgeshire Community Services and the patient is now pain free!
This month’s nominations were of an extremely high standard, well done to you all!