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 winners for July are:

The Hinchingbrooke Dental Health Team

The team were nominated by the mother of a 2½ year old boy for the excellent customer service she received from all the staff she had contact with.  As soon as she arrived the lady on the reception desk was warm and welcoming.  She gave her little boy colouring to play with and was very patient when he wanted to talk to her! She was also very patient when she realised she had forgotten all of her paperwork and this was no problem at all.

The dentists saw them immediately, which was very much appreciated with a young child. The patience that both the dentist and the dental nurse showed the family was touching. Immediately they put her at ease, with the dentist having a very honest and practically helpful conversation with her. The dental nurse spent time playing with her son, so he couldn’t wait to get in the chair. The speed and efficiency of the treatment was brilliant.

Her son requires a referral to the hospital and the next available date was November.  Both the dentist and the dental nurse put every effort in to identifying an earlier appointment date at an alternative hospital and were very flexible in ensuring she could complete the paperwork. The information and brief they gave her on the next stage of treatment was really robust and has put her at ease to move forward. She felt that they had done absolutely everything possible to help her and for this she is incredibly grateful.

An experience that she had been dreading was perfectly pleasant and indeed her son now asks when he can go back to see the dentist!

Congratulations to the team!

Also nominated this month:

Melanie Denniss, Child Health and Acute Admin Service Lead, Children's services, Hinchingbrooke Hospital

Melanie Denniss was nominated by Victoria Williams after recently being appointed as their manager on a 6 month secondment. Melanie joined the team in December as cover for their manager. The team were in a crisis with a backlog of typing resulting in complaints, staff morale was extremely low, staff had left the Trust and staff did not feel supported or valued.

She has made multiple changes to our working practices including:

• Recruited new staff and ensured there was adequate staff in place (temps were recruited)
• Peer group meetings, new lockable filing cabinets and long overdue PDRs organized
• Implemented office changes (desk moves)
• Supported a member of staff transitioning into our department who had special requirements
• Acting as Mentor to the team leader, a role that Mel implemented, supported staff members into new roles within the office (safeguarding), requested staff have pictures taken and ID board put up in office
• United the team which had fragmented due to lack of support and stress levels and retained staff that were considering leaving the Trust.

Melanie is always approachable and happy to come over and support them during difficult times. She visits the team on a weekly basis and has been on ‘back to the floor days’ with the whole team. Melanie is extremely supportive to all members of the team. She encourages them to share ideas and helps them implement change. She is a very proactive leader who has enabled the team to see a way forward and work together better.