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.

Our Winner for August 2021 is:

Angela Pendleton, Health Visitor, 0-19 Children’s Services North Locality (St Neots)

Angela was nominated by Michelle Tee for working incredibly hard in supporting families and for consistently going above and beyond, often working over her contracted hours. Michelle said: “Angela is a fantastic role model and always has a smile and has embraced the challenges of adapting to work throughout the Covid 19 pandemic, supporting staff, colleagues and students.

"Angela's compassion and resolve to support families recently shone through after supporting a vulnerable mum with her new baby.

“Angela worked closely with other agencies, over several days and made many phone calls.  She also visited the family with other professionals (after hours) to assess and offer practical advice, especially around breastfeeding and emotional wellbeing for the children. The family are now receiving the appropriate support.”

Wonderful nomination, well done Angela! 

Other nominations this month included:

Andrew Rose, Dan Stapleton and Debbie Chandler, CCS IT – St Ives

The team were nominated by Claire Studd on behalf of the Orwell Clinic, iCaSH, Suffolk.

Claire said: “Andrew Rose and Dan Stapleton have been with us at the Orwell Clinic for the last two days, working tirelessly to ensure that our migration over to SBS has been a success, nothing has been too much trouble for them and they have gone above and beyond to ensure things have run like clockwork.

“Debbie Chandler has been crucial in the organisation part of the process; we also owe her our appreciation and great deal of thanks!”

Usha Mahi and the e-rostering team Norfolk - Mass Vaccination

Usha and the team were nominated by Raj Thirunageswaram who said: “Usha continually reflects the Trust’s values and behaviours in her daily work but she delivers ‘a smile’ over the telephone and in her email correspondence. She lifts the spirit of the day and remains calm and ever confident that issues can be resolved. This in principal is comforting whilst reassuring my staff that they are being listened to and that their query is swiftly and effectively dealt with.

“Moreover, when this relates to their pay, my staff value and appreciates the timeliness of her actions. This is of paramount importance in the retention of the mass vaccination workforce. Usha and her team remain calm as they dutifully address any concerns or queries from me, my senior clinical team and ever increasing band 3, 4 and 5 employee numbers.

“Usha consistently addresses these concerns in a cheery manner no matter what time of day it is or how busy she is and always promises to assist and resolve the queries by following up with e mails identifying the actions taken. I appreciate her email correspondence as this enables me to be kept in the loop and oversee and address any future actions and finalise the outcome to maintain a happy workforce.

“Numerous members of my staff from the mass vaccination centre have fed back to me how helpful, polite and kind Usha has been when they have individually spoken to her or sent an e mail. In particular, five staff members contacted Usha regarding logging on issues with e-roster whilst working remotely in King’s Lynn as they thought they were missing out on the release of bank duties on their mobile devices and had to wait until they returned home. Usha reassured the staff and helped them with downloading the correct app and assisted with how the e-roster app operates and how to document availability. Usha was so patient with her instructions and never gets flustered or irritated. She communicated to me as the site operational lead her actions and how she had resolved my staff queries. I was so thankful for her interjection and expertise which has enabled my workforce to remain happy and up to date with available shifts which they can now access.

“Usha and her team are role models when it comes to sharing of information and have advised on innovations with the e-roster duties. Additionally, Usha and her team have collaborated with my site clinical lead with regards to the newly devolved duty responsibility of populating the local site rotas. Her professionalism, kindness and encouragement are exemplary and Andreas has felt supported and reassured. Latterly, with new clinical supervisors identified, Usha has personally telephoned individual staff members to identify suitable shadow shifts. Her personal touch and great interpersonal skills are ambassadorial for the Trust. She really is a shining star and deserves to be nominated and recognised. Usha and her department will be pivotal in collaborating with us to ensure the Trust remains a sustainable organisation, enviable of others and outstanding in performance whilst investing in the people who work for CCS to deliver high quality care.

“Thank you so much Usha and the large scale mass vaccination e-rostering team. You are all amazing.

Karen Loft, Catheter Lead Nurse - Luton Community Nursing

Karen was nominated by one of her patient’s for helping to put him at ease with his catheter situation.  He said: “I found it a bit uncomfortable having a leg bag and Karen introduced me to the lever valve which is a lot more comfortable and easy to use. She always went out of her way to help me by coming to my house after she finished her day to sort out my issues. I think she is a lovely young lady with a heart of gold! I feel Karen is what the NHS is all about.”

Well done to everyone who was nominated this month!