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 Winners for October 2021 are:

The newly qualified Specialist Community Public Health Nurses (Health Visitors and School Nurses) – Luton and Bedfordshire:

Isabelle Barnett, Lisa Crawley, Jo Dellar, Rachel Hollowell, Madeline Hughes, Nicola Jackson, Sian Kealy, Shameena Khan, Justine Lowe, Emily Murfin, Zoe Nutt, Laura Russell, Nadia Speake and Kate Stearn

This team of newly qualified SCPHNs were nominated by Clare Estes, Clinical Lead, for giving up their last week at university to support Afghan families and conduct health assessments on all the children at the two refugee centres in Luton. Clare said: “They worked tirelessly, compassionately, and resiliently in a rapidly changing and challenging environment. We are very grateful to them and simply could not have done it without them!”

What a wonderful team, going above and beyond, well done! 

Other nominations this month included:

Michaela Langford, Speech and Language Therapist, Cambridgeshire

Michaela was nominated by the dad of one of her patients, for her amazing skill, professionalism and engagement to achieve transformative results for their son's speech, in the series of sessions that they have had over recent months.

Julie Mutton, HCA/Home Phlebotomist, Blood Services, Luton Treatment Centre

Julie was commended by Raquel Nakila for working tirelessly during the Pandemic. Raquel said: “Julie helped keep the service running continuously well when we were down to a few staff due to shielding, self-isolation and sickness. She covers the Phlebotomy clinics and sees patients in the community at the last minute when required.

“Always punctual, and the last to leave the treatment centre, even working over her contracted time whenever something urgent needs her attention. She ensures that the service runs smoothly by organising the rota, well ahead of time, keeping orders on track and doing the painful task of following up when they go missing or not get delivered. She keeps every bit of essential information written in her handy book for everyone's perusal.

“Julie is an asset to the service, always very caring and compassionate to our patients who love her in return for that and for her very cheerful manner. Always there to lend a helping hand to colleagues and always willing to go the extra mile for everyone, colleagues and service users alike.”

Nikki Hurst-Muggridge, Physiotherapist, Children's Physio, Cambridgeshire

Nikki was nominated by Tessa Shaw for being hugely supportive to both Stevie Parker and herself, in the time they have been interim clinical leads for physio.  Tessa said: “Nikkia has increased her hours and offered support clinically and managerially through the time of our post. She has supported new starters and taken on extra clinical caseload at an additional base.”

Mandy Marsh, Patient Experience Advisor, Cambridgeshire

Debbie Shulver nominated Mandy after she had called a patient who had submitted a complaint and during the call the patient disclosed that she was very unwell and would need to end the call to call 999. Debbie said: “The call Mandy was on ended abruptly and Mandy called 999 herself and made sure that the patient was safe and was awaiting an ambulance.”

Joanne Greenslade, Rehab Instructor, Dynamic Health, MSK Physio, Outpatients,  Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Huntingdon

Colleen Burns nominated Jo and said: “Jo consistently demonstrates an exceptional level of care and empathy towards her patients and consistently goes above and beyond her pay grade and job description to provide exemplary patient care.

“One such example saw her supporting a young patient with a complex MSK presentation. She expertly provided safety netting advice for serious spinal pathology, she managed their mental health concerns and sought appropriate advice.  She also identified concerns re medication dependency and flagged this to their GP as well as completing her rehab requirements for the patient and onward community care and resources.

“Her knowledge of the team dynamics, our service objectives, complex MSK presentations sent to her by physios as well as natural intuition of when to seek GP help is superb and on par with senior clinicians. Furthermore, her desire to maintain up to date and accurate local knowledge of community resources means we as a service can ensure patients seek the appropriate intervention for their needs.

“We would be lost without her, she more than demonstrates our Trust values and every patient gets this level of care and support. She is a well-respected member of staff, and despite some personal challenges this year she would never let this impact the team or patient care.”

Well done to everyone who was nominated this month, fantastic nominations!