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 October 2019 is:

Rachael Luckhurst, Dental Nurse, Peterborough Dental Access Centre

Rachael was nominated by Alyson Chastell for going over and above for patients and their welfare and in particular the below two scenarios. 

The first scenario was with a patient who attended the clinic who was pregnant and homeless and had been trafficked into the country. After following all the correct procedures Rachael went further by following up with the charity which is helping the young lady and made a visit to make sure the patient was ok and had a cup of tea to show moral support to both the charity and the patient in her own time.

Secondly, on the way to do the banking for the service Rachael got caught up in an unfortunate event where an elderly woman had been mugged in Peterborough City Centre. The incident was reported in the local news that evening. Alyson said: “Rachael stopped and helped the lady and allowed her to use her telephone to call the Police and stayed with her until the Police arrived. At this point Rachael ran off to find the lady’s husband so she would feel safe and supported. Both incidents show how Rachael will put the care and welfare of people first. I am very humbled to have her as part of our amazing team.”

What a fantastic nomination, well done Rachael!

Also nominated this month:

Huntingdon Children's Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy Team

Ceri MacKenzie nominated the team, she said: “I work in children's therapies based in Huntingdon as a therapy assistant. In September 2018 I had two epileptic seizures. One of these occurred at work and the initial response from my manager Alison Chatfield was brilliant. She knew exactly what to do and provided reassurance and first aid.

“Because of my seizures, I had to surrender my driving licence for a year. I was initially very worried about this because as a community worker driving is a large part of my role. My team reassured me that this wouldn't be an issue. For the past year the team (particularly Alison, Gifty Addo Stewart, Hollie Coe and Jaz Miller) have helped me by driving me to appointments and dropping me home, sometimes going out of their way to do so. This has helped me keep up with my competencies and made me continue to feel like a valuable member of the team and on a practical level has helped me get home at the end of a working day.

“Management (Nic Foreman, Jacqui Taylor, Heidi Bartlet, Stevie Parker) have also been very understanding of my need to work from home and work slightly different hours on occasions when getting lifts into the office have been difficult. The whole team has also provided great personal and emotional support - from practical advice regarding where I can get help to minimise the stress and anxiety I have felt as a result of my seizures - to just being willing listeners when I have felt the need to rant about my situation!

"I got my licence back from the DVLA (yay!) but I will be forever grateful for the support I have received from my team and they deserve to be recognised for it.”

Zoe Brown, Project Support Manager, Luton Adult Services

Lisa Blackwell nominated Zoe for taking on the role of being their local Health and Wellbeing Champion and for going above and beyond to organise and introduce lots of great initiatives that many of the staff in Luton have benefited from, ranging from the weekly netball club, yoga / Pilates sessions, stress awareness sessions, back care demos and exercise sessions, anti-bullying workshops, stop smoking clinics, free health checks, and even sharing healthy eating recipes to name just a few! Lisa said: “Zoe is passionate and committed to helping promote and improve staff health and well-being and is always looking for new ideas and initiatives.”

Jo Oakey, Estates Site Admin, Estates & Facilities

Jo was nominated by Geraldine Byrne for her work on a large project at the Princess of Wales Hospital; the project was the installation/ upgrade of the old fire alarm system to category L1. Geraldine said: “This project was long and time consuming and Jo's dedication to liaising with all occupants of the site including the porters, cleaners and contractors went over and beyond her remit. Jo made this project run as smoothly as it could have been run and even the contractors applauded Jo for all of her hard work.”

Karen Williams, School Nurse Team Lead, Luton 

Karen was driving around Luton undertaking her normal duties when she noticed a young person on the top of a bridge over a very busy road. The police and fire service were at the scene but it was clear that the young person was very distressed. Tina Charlton, who nominated Karen said: “Karen stopped and offered to talk to the young person which she did. As a result of her skilled intervention she persuaded her to come down. Karen succeeded where other services had not.

“I am sure this is because Karen has excellent communication skills with young people. She is always very patient and I am sure this applied in this situation. Karen could have assumed that because services were on the scene that she could continue with her busy working day without stopping. However all of us, who know Karen, know that this is not an option she would have considered. We are very fortunate to have such a skilled kind and compassionate person leading the school nursing service in Luton. Karen's intervention this week literally saved a life and I am sure that this young person will remember her kindness care and skill for a very long time. Everything about this event identifies Karen as a person and skilled practitioner, it also reflects our Trust values.” 

Hannah Burlinson, Physiotherapist, Dynamic Health, Cambridge/Ely

Sarah Saul nominated Hannah for being pivotal in bringing the team together as one; she is the organiser of the Xmas social and working to do and fun activities such as GBBO competitions. Her main action that is making a difference is that she is spearheading a piece of work with their expanding group of rehab instructors (which have quadrupled as a workforce over the last three years) in raising the profile of this expert group of employees to staff within the unit, organising their learning needs, looking at their class demand, bench marking across the unit, changing the culture of physios to utilise these experts for fitness, functional rehab, strength and conditioning, nutrition, endurance and resilience.

She is also linking them to the public health arena for signposting to healthy walks, exercise referral schemes, everyone health, one leisure, vivacity and we are inviting these providers into sites to work with us to draw patients out into leisure and the world of exercise and maintaining a good weight and full fitness.

Sarah said: “She is positive, enthusiastic , spreads a smile and an air of "we can do it" across the unit, nothing is too much trouble, she has a good rapport with patients, an enquiring mind, she brings staff together, she has a can do attitude, is a breath of fresh air and a great employee to work with. She started as a domiciliary carer in her local area while she was in sixth form during holidays and weekends and continued a caring role into her 1st year of university. At Uni she studied physiotherapy at Sheffield Hallam where she got a 1st degree honours and played hockey. Her first job was in London where she rotated round the areas to get a good grounding in all conditions and then found herself back in her hometown, Cambridge and specialised into MSK. Outside of work she physio's for a local rugby team and is pitch side first aid, in the last 6/12 she has gained a great interest in sports medicine and rehabilitation and plans to do an Msc in Sport Medicine at UCL at some point in the future. She is an absolute asset to CCS, to Dynamic Heath, to Physiotherapy and her forward thinking, enthusiasm and understanding of continuous improvement is fantastic to have.”

Shagufta Dalal, Specialist SLT, Speech & Language Therapy, Fenland and Huntingdon

Alison Hanson nominated Shagufta aftering receiving the comments below which came into the PALS team from a pre-school manager. Shagufta has supported children and staff within their setting for many years. The feedback said: “I have worked as manager of All Saints Preschool for 11 years and during that time I have liaised with many professionals, of these Shagufta stands out as a colleague who understands the importance of multi-agency working and works relentlessly to support children with more complex speech and language needs.

“I know that should I need to discuss a child's speech and language development I can contact Shagufta and she will always respond either by email or via telephone and within a timely manner. She listens to our concerns, our thoughts and ideas and works with us to support the children to ensure good progress. I understand that this is what we all strive to do as professionals, however the pressures of our jobs can at times make us stretched and less communicative or able to offer our time to others who are also struggling, however Shagufta has never made me feel unsupported or as if my concerns were irrelevant or unimportant.

“Shagufta appreciates the preschools knowledge of children and their families and is skilled in working in partnership with us to tailor her response to each individual child. I never feel that she takes the same approach to two different children. We have faced some complex cases over the last few years and Shagufta always works hard to find a new idea, a different strategy or a suggestion to support the child and the staff. I often have a professional conversation with Shagufta where new strategies will come to light and I feel empowered and with a positive direction to the support I am offering. I have attended training which has been delivered by Shagufta and have always found her to be knowledgeable within her field. Professionals do not always receive the appreciation they deserve for their role in supporting children, however I feel it’s important to recognise those that make our roles a little easier and most importantly impact positively on the lives of children and their families. I have no doubt there are many children who have travelled through All Saints Preschool and Academy whose educational prospects are strengthened as a result of Shagufta's involvement.”

Congratulations to everyone nominated this month!