by
Kirstie Flack
| May 01, 2019
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 April 2019 is:
Liz Meleady, Children's Community Nurse, Luton Children's Services
Liz was nominated by Jo McDonnell, after member of the public had approached Liz to say there was a gentleman lying on the pavement and didn't know what to do. Liz approached the gentleman and established that he had recently been discharged from a local mental health establishment and was now homeless. Liz sat with the gentlemen for over an hour, in the cold, reassuring him and then the emergency mental health team arrived. Liz showed so much care and compassion whilst she stayed with the gentleman and went above and beyond her remit as a children's community nurse. Liz was late for her visits which resulted in her finishing late without complaint. As the emergency team took over the care, the gentlemen thanked her for staying with him.
Wonderful care and compassion, huge congratulations Liz!
Also nominated this month:
Luton Weekend team and James Gingell - Amer Shabir, Victoria Harding, John Folarin, Jackie Shorthall, Smitha Sathyan and Abigail Toghanro
The team were nominated by David Vickers, as Director on Call, he heard that the Luton team had lost power and therefore Systm1 was of great concern. Amer calmly advised him of the actions he'd taken to diagnose the problems. David called James Gingell based on this call who immediately responded and stepped in to help Luton, despite not being on call. He reported back the problem and advised that the Luton team had been amazing in re-locating to Keech for Systm1 access, undertaking a clear diagnostic of the difficulties and using the BCP accurately and effectively. David said “I was very impressed by James and the Luton team of Amer Shabir Victoria Harding John Folarin, Jackie Shorthall Smitha Sathyan, Abigail Toghanro and of course James Gingell.”
Admin Team Receptionists - Maya Greenin, Linda Green, Claire Lyddiatt and Monika Kovacic-Graham, Abbey View Clinic, iCaSH
Kate Froggatt nominated the reception team at Abbey View Clinic for working so very hard, pulling together as a team and working extra hours in order to maintain the smooth running of the clinic. Ensuring that the reception and phones have continued to be covered all times including both the early mornings and late evening opening hours. Kate said “They have all been very willing and done this with a smile on their faces and with no complaints and I feel that they deserve recognition for their continued support as the clinic would have certainly struggled without their help and flexibility. I personally would like to say a huge thank you to them all for all their help and support.”
Adults Rapid Response, Luton - Ann McHugh, Kate Atkinson, Jo Frost, Bennie A-Ward, John Folarin, Patricia Bowles, Lauren Bull, Jackie Shortall , Ophelia Roberts, Nicola Burke, Lauren Yearwood, Sharon Payne, Dorota Klimas, Elaine Hart, Smitha Sathyan, Jackie Mockridge, Tallet John-Eric, Dinah Sefa, Olayinia Oginni and Anna Maria Okorah
Nicola Burke nominated the team for looking after a patient for three years; visiting her three times daily for Intravenous antibiotics which basically kept her alive. The visits could last up to 2.5 hours. Initial visits were only meant to have been for 6 weeks, this was then extended to 8 months and three years later they were still seeing her, which was a pleasure for the team as the patient and her family were always so welcoming. All of the team grew their own special relationship with this lady as they could see her daily between 2.5 hours and 5 hours. Unfortunately they all knew in the back of our minds that the antibiotics would someday become non-effective and this lady would eventually pass away. Nicola said: “In March 2019, our patient sadly passed away. This upset us as a team and some of us felt it difficult to cope with. We felt we had lost a friend as well as a patient. I feel that Rapid Response as a team dealt with this very well and the team were there for each other if anybody wanted to talk.”
Karen Smith, School Nurse, Norfolk HCP (West locality)
Karen was nominated by Sarah Archibald for undertaking the migratory portfolio to become a dual qualified health visitor/school nurse. On completion of this training she took up a school nurse post based at Vancouver House. Karen has been very supportive of the 5-19 service re-design and has been a key player in the West 5-19 team. As part of the redesign of the service they are reviewing all their pathways and the service offer and because Karen had had previous experience of working within sexual health Sarah asked her if she would be able to develop a sexual health pathway as part of our 5-19 service. Despite being a new school nurse and being stretched by the day job Karen readily accepted this opportunity with enthusiasm and protected time to complete a fabulous pathway which has just been approved by the Senior Leadership team (March 2019). Karen worked with other team members to draw content together and also used her links with the neighbouring iCaSH team to full effect to develop a very comprehensive pathway document with guidance on resources to support interventions. She also facilitated the opportunity to develop a video with iCaSH to explain to young people what a visit to an iCaSH clinic would look like. As Just One Norfolk develops the young person’s portal this resource will be available there for young people to access. Sarah said: “As lead for the 5-19 pathway I acknowledge how difficult all the change has been for staff so I just really want to thank Karen for going the extra mile and supporting our service development by producing such an excellent document.”
Michelle Leon, Nutritionist, Family Food First, Bedford
One of Michelle’s patients’ said: “At my settings audit visit, Michelle Leon, was very friendly and made me feel comfortable.”
Shagufta Dalal, Specialist Speech Therapist, Cambridgeshire
Shagufta was nominated by a service user, after she became the link speech therapist for her school after a long period of time without one. She said: “We have a quite high number of children with speech and language difficulties, some with complex needs and the support Shagufta has provided to me and my colleagues has been invaluable in helping us to meet their needs. The majority of the children she has supported go on to make good progress from their low starting points. Nothing is too much trouble for Shagufta. She will help wherever she can and her level of professionalism has been invaluable in meetings with parents where difficult messages have needed to be delivered. We shall miss having Shagufta as our link speech therapist.”
Congratulations to everyone nominated this month!