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 September is:

Linda O'Brien, Community Nursing Sister, Luton, Nightingale Team
(nominated by Christine Harris, Alyssa Kunert, Hyacinth Coombs, Rebecca Shaw, Riona Kelly, Beverley Savage and Joanne Shields)

Linda was nominated by seven of her colleagues for going100% above and beyond her job. Linda has been a great influence to other members of the team and she does amazing caring things for patients and families. She always puts others before herself and this in reflected in her work and this has been shown recently when she used her days off work to escort a nervous and anxious patient to the local hospital and also the Royal Free in London.

This lady lives in a high rise flat in Luton with no family except a brother in Norfolk. She has had a tumour on the occipital region of her skull which has been growing steadily over the years with regular visits by the nurses. There has been one attempt at biopsy, but insufficient tissue was taken to identify if the tumour is malignant.

Since that time she has not attended many appointments so Linda in true form set about the task. She had already developed a relationship with this lady due to the regularity of her visits. Linda, in her unique way, gave her the confidence to ‘go for it’ and in her own time accompanied the patient to her appointments.

The patient did not have many clothes, sheets or bedding. So, size 24 clothing was sourced from the local charity shop by Linda and presented to her on the day of her appointment. This lady would never have got to the appointment alone and Linda helped her understand the process once she was there. A further appointment has now been made and Linda has set aside the time to be there again.

Christine said: "Inspired by our Linda, this privilege we have to be part of the lives of everyone we see is unique and such a gift. We are all inspired by our lovely Linda. She makes us smile every day and is a true shining light amongst us all."

Congratulations to Linda!

Other nominees were:

Lisa Munro, Specialist Nurse for Looked After Children, Safeguarding Children, Huntingdon
Lisa was nominated by Sarah Stacey who always put the needs of the children first and foremost. She is consistently motivated and extremely organised, making sure that the rest of the team have enough information and knowledge to keep the systems up to date and the service meeting targets. The LAC Health team has had extended periods where there has been no Lead Nurse and Lisa has stepped up, taking on extra responsibilities without any hesitation to ensure that the service keeps running smoothly and the children's health needs continue to be met. There has only been one other LAC Nurse so it is a very small team but they work with extremely vulnerable children with complex needs which can make it a difficult and demanding role. Lisa always supports her colleague and checks that she is OK when working with complex and stressful situations. Lisa is the back bone of the service and without her it would not be as successful as it is in meeting the needs of the children, hitting and at times exceeding targets, and keeping afloat when times are tough. 

Pat Dawkins, School Nurse Assistant, Luton Children's / School Nursing
Pat was nominated by Sarah Watts for being crucial to the school nursing team's ability to deliver the School Immunisation Programme, particularly with the catch up programme during the summer. When the immunisation co-ordinator went off on unexpected long term sickness, Pat stepped into the role, which meant she had to quickly become proficient in a new skill set without the skilled staff member to support her. Pat has mobilised the team with regards to data collection, which has included teaching and has worked well with all levels of the team, including senior management and liaising with the partner agencies. Pat has continued with her normal duties and has worked tirelessly to ensure that the team deadlines were met. Pat's dedication and enthusiasm to adapt so quickly to a new role, during a time of when the team were short staffed due to sickness and maternity leave meant the team were able to continue to deliver and report on the immunisation programme within the schools. 

Dr Bushra Algawi, Paediatric Consultant, Children’s Ward, Hinchingbrooke
Bushra was nominated by the mother of one of her patients for always going above and beyond. The nomination reads as follows:

"I was lying on my hospital bed, holding my one day old daughter to my chest, my eyes full of tears and my heart heavy. I was confused. However, in that moment I saw three faces looking at me; and one of those faces was Dr Algawi. A murmur was heard on my daughter’s heart, and after some tests I was being told that my daughter had HLHS (hypo-plastic left heart syndrome). I was crying so much! I couldn't take any of it in.

"Now, as you can imagine this was hard to get my head around. However, on top of all of this I was going through some personal issues and was facing being a mother on my own. Dr Algawi has been an absolute rock to me and my daughter. My daughter turned two recently, and over these past two years we have seen a lot of Dr Algawi. She not only makes us feel as though my daughter is her only patient, but she always asks to see how I am doing. She never rushes me out of the room. She never forgets a single thing I tell her. I know that she is proud of me. I know that she is proud of my daughter. 

"Dr Algawi goes above and beyond for us and she deserves this recognition. This isn't a job to her; this is her life, helping children and their families that need her! I don't know what my daughter and I would have done/would do without her."

Congratulations to everyone who was nominated this month.