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 winner for March is:

Jan Wilkins, Family Support Practitioner,
Ida Darwin, Fulbourn
Jan was nominated by the father of one of her patients. He first met Jan in 2014 when he returned home on leave from Afghanistan as she was supporting his family and children through the hard times with his daughter’s complexed health needs.

Jan helped him to understand that her health was deteriorating much worse and faster than he could ever admit to. They were told she only had six to twelve months left to live and it was Jan who was there to pick up the pieces and support them when their whole world fell apart.

Jan helped them over the following months on what to expect, helped them tell her brother that she was going to pass away and even advised them on making arrangements for her passing and cancellation of medical supplies, disability car and DLA payments.

Jan monitored his low moods and anxiety as he grieved and helped him to grieve by going through all the tasks of mourning and checked to see if he was becoming depressed by giving him questionnaires to complete.

Without all of Jan’s help through the time they have known her he believes they would have all fallen apart. Thank you Jan for all her hard work and support she has given the family, it was appreciated by them all and will never be forgotten.

Congratulations to Jan.

Also nominated this month:

Deborah Holmes, MDT Co-ordinator Team lead, At Home First Intensive case management
Debbie was nominated by Tracy Fitzsimmons, for supporting the Integrated Rapid Response team with their daily multi-disciplinary meetings called the 'Huddle'. This is held off site with partner organisations and is a really important part of the At Home First approach, supporting people in Luton to remain at home during periods of crisis.

Debbie took on this additional work willingly and despite being busy she manages to portray a calm and positive attitude, bringing ideas and solutions to the table and it is a pleasure having her as part of the team. Recently she has been recognised by Anita Pisani, Deputy Chief Executive who said: “I'm always very impressed with your 'can do' way of operating - nothing ever seems too much trouble for you” and by our Service Redesign project manager, Mick Birch who said: “I’d like to say a huge thank you for the work you have done as Huddle Coordinator. It can be really tough to get people to see that the initial investments made in time and effort but this will now reap the rewards and benefit us all as an organisation. Great to see your positive attitude towards making this happen in addition to your day job.”

Judy Hunter, Nursery Nurse, Ely Team
Judy was nominated by Kim Chenery for not only staying late at work to complete her own role but also ensuring that every clinic was covered, to avoid cancelation of services to the clients. The caseload in Ely is made up of many vulnerable and isolated families, these clinics for many are the only source of socialisation that they have in a week. The impact of cancelling them could have been detrimental to the clients, therefore possibly increasing the service need in the future.

Jen Deacon, Early Support Coordinator, Early Support / Ida Darwin
Lisa Howden and team nominated Jen as they can phone her about anything regarding Early Support or Special needs and she is able to help them with their inquiry. She is a fountain of knowledge and is a good support to both clinical staff and parents. Jen is always very calm and patient, she knows you when you call and also knows which families you are working jointly with. She knows about support groups and other available resources for families and is a good advocate for families and clinicians. They have always had positive feedback from parents saying how helpful she is and she always goes the extra mile and without her they would not be able to offer all the knowledge they pass onto families.

Luton Safeguarding Children Team, Marsh Farm Health Centre, Luton
Julie Darkin nominated Jill Atthews and Helen Fallows for working extremely hard in maintaining the service offered to staff and other agencies during a period of staff shortages and change for the team. She also nominated Marguerite Noble who has established the CCS health role in the new Luton Multi agency Safeguarding Hub.

Chris Sharp, Infection Control Matron, Quality
Chris was nominated by Sarah-Jane Gill for leading on the delivery of the Flu Vaccinations this year. Whilst this campaign happens annually there is particular pressure on this year’s campaign to meet a very challenging national CQUIN target. Chris has embraced this challenge with exceptional energy and commitment. He has developed flexible and targeted clinics, co-ordinated vaccines and resource required for delivery, developed thorough varied comms and kept a very close eye on progress through the Live Life Well Committee. This is all in addition to actually touring the counties and delivering the vaccinations with a positive and supportive attitude. Whilst the CQUIN returns are still due to be submitted.

Regardless of CQUIN targets we now have the highest vaccine rate we have achieved in recent years and this is thanks to Chris. Responses to the flu campaign are not always positive and it can feel like a never ending battle but Chris has not let that stop him and I feel he should be recognised for all he has achieved in the face of such a challenging task.

Judy Hunter /Sian Walden Jones, Community Nursery Nurses, Ely HV team
Gail Mclaughlin nominated Judy and Sian for covering all of the developmental assessments due for our team in addition to their own work. They were extremely professional and diligent keeping them informed of all work completed and going above and beyond what was asked of them.

Mr Julian Fraser, Hazel Byatt, Nikki Hesselbach and Jade De’Ath Watson, Minor Oral Surgery Service Cambridgeshire
The team received amazing feedback from a patient who was treated in the Minor Oral Surgery Service on Saturday 29 January 2017.

“I just wanted to say thank you for arranging my appointment with Mr Fraser yesterday. I have woken up today and I already feel much better, the pain is subsiding and I have not had to take any of the strong painkillers that I have had to survive on for the last couple of weeks, meaning I finally feel normal again which means a lot.

“I cannot express how grateful I am and how impressed I was with my care and treatment. Thank you once again to you and the team you were all so kind and are a credit to the NHS. I really can't thank you all enough.”