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 January 2018 is:

Sally Shaw, Service Manager - Lead Nurse, Integrated Discharge Team, Luton

Sally was nominated by James Gingell for her outstanding effort and commitment in supporting the Luton and Dunstable NHS Foundation Trust with an internal incident regarding staffing/demand on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Sally was not on duty but worked hard in supporting the wider NHS system with the incident, and ensured a system wide approach. She even took a patient home in a taxi to do everything possible to ensure the best outcomes for patients.

Many congratulations to Sally.

Other nominees this month included:

Michaela Higgs , Speech and Language Therapist, Cambridge
Michaela was nominated by Lynne Millard following email about their child, just one example of many to show how Michaela and the service have changed a child's life by improving their communication. The email read as follows: “Dear Michaela, before looking too far into the future I would like to say first a big thank you. Before Christmas Luka came back home on a Wednesday insisting that we should do a speech and language exercise he did in the morning. Never ever before has he asked to do this. He wanted to show me that he was able to say "Luka can say /k/ sound and Luka likes Coca Cola." He was very proud when he had said this sentence and other words containing a /k/ sound. Admittedly, I was close to a few tears. The hard work had paid off and this was certainly not possible without your systematic, consistent and focused approach and support. Thank you for this amazing and very nice Christmas present. A great achievement.” 

The Holly Ward team, Hinchingbrooke 
The whole team were nominated by Laura Gauld for their ongoing professional and exceptional care to patients and families. Working together to ensure family centred care and keeping a positive attitude despite hard and challenging times. 

The Luton 0-19 admin team - Patricia Thomas, Aneesa Khan, Geraldine Dooley, Jade Mepham, Malar Zakeri, Sylvia Penn, Jade Gordon-Sinclair and Gill Maloney 
The team were nominated by Sarah Watts for ensuring that the service continued to run smoothly over the festive period, under the back drop of a heating failure which resulted in the office base being uninhabitable. The team ensured that there was no disruption in service delivery and continued to support the team who were hot desking / mobile working from various places across the town. They also arranged a swift and efficient move to an alternative base which ensured that a duty line was not disrupted. Due to their dedication and proactive response our service users would not have been aware of the difficulties the team were facing during this period.

Sharon Payne, Sister, Rapid Response, Luton
Sharon was nominated by Jackie Fletcher after receiving an email from one of our District Nursing sisters: "When Sharon is on Duty Triage she always does an amazingly thorough job which we, in the DN teams, find very helpful and are incredibly appreciative of. I believe Sharon's background in District Nursing contributes to her understanding of the pressure we are all under and is invaluable particularly when she is triaging. She is always helpful and accommodating and is a role model for the integrated nursing process.” 

Nadine De Pasquale, Administration Supervisor, iCaSH Cambridgeshire, Oaktree Centre, Huntingdon
Nadine was nominated by Jo Radnor as she is somebody who always goes above and beyond; in whatever it is she is working on at any given time. On numerous occasions, Nadine has intuitively shown her ability to think outside of the box, and offer creative solutions to varying challenges within our day to day work. iCaSH Cambridgeshire recently underwent a Lilie system upgrade, for which Nadine proactively produced training and timetable packs for all staff involved. She also organised to come into work, over a weekend, to ensure that all systems were functioning appropriately, ready for clinics to run smoothly on the Monday morning. Nadine is an extremely valued member of our iCaSH Cambridgeshire team, who will always offer support outside of her remit, if she is at all able to. It is fair to say that the NHS has many characters like Nadine, who are not visible to the public on a day to day basis, but without whom, our services would grind to a halt.

Nicola Wilson, ESP Podiatrist, Rivergate, Peterborough
Nicola was nominated by a patient for and excellent physical examination. An excellent explanation was given of the scan and x-ray. The source and cause of pain was explained better than any previous consultation, going back more than 50 years. The injury is lateral and requires different physio techniques to normal treatment which Nicola will arrange appropriate treatment for.

Hayley Purple, Single Point of Access and Admin Co-ordinator, Norfolk Children and Young People's Health Service
Hayley was nominated by the Norfolk Senior Admin team for going above and beyond for her team during the short time she has been with the service and keeps the wellbeing of her staff at the forefront of her mind. She invests her own time and money in ensuring that her team have time together and feel valued. Events have included a Christmas party, Halloween fund raising for Nelson's journey and Love Your Admin week. 

Huge congratulations to everyone who was nominated this month!