Winners and Nominations for Quarter 2 of 2020
Given the exceptional circumstances of the last few months and in recognition of the extraordinary work which has been delivered during the pandemic this quarter, the ‘People at out Heart Awards’ judging panel agreed to select four Individual Staff Winners, three Team Winners and to highlight seven Highly Commended Nominations, all of which scored high in the shortlisting process.
Individual Winner One
Barbara Hall, Sister on Ward 2, Paediatric Medicine at the Great North Children’s Hospital
Respiratory nursing staff from Ward 2a at the Great North Children’s Hospital were moved to a newly set up COVID-19 ward along with their Sister, Barbara Hall as part of the Trust’s response to the pandemic. Nurses from other specialities were then seconded to Ward 2a to cover for those staff. This was a huge organisational task and despite it being a worrying and challenging time, the whole team worked very well on both wards.
Barbara’s nomination says “Through this whole process, Barbara, as usual, put her patients at the heart of everything with empathy, kindness and professional care, especially supporting patients whose fears she allayed with the prospect of a Covid diagnosis. Barbara has been a life line of support to her staff. Not only professionally dealing with an unprecedented pandemic and all that entails, but also emotionally. She has guided and helped the staff who were working on the Covid ward through their own personal stress and worries.
“She is an inspirational nurse; Barbara does this with a perfect balance of Line Manager and friend and due to this, she is respected and loved by her staff, who are willing to support her in every way. She truly is what this award is about.”
Individual Winner Two
Jenny Hunt, Specialist Occupational Therapist
Jenny was nominated for the exceptional standards of care she provided for a patient who had been diagnosed with a lifechanging form of cancer leaving them with very complex physical and cognitive needs. She also provided significant support for the patient’s spouse and young child helping them to adjust and adapt to the patient’s personality and cognitive changes, and carried out comprehensive occupational therapy assessments and interventions which enabled the patient to return home.
Her nomination says: “Jenny is a credit to our team – she consistently provides high quality care for patients. I’m very proud of Jenny’s involvement with this patient, demonstrating resilience, and going the extra mile to ensure the patient’s child could spend quality time with their parent before they died.
The patient’s spouse said: “I have never met anyone as beautiful, caring and considerate as yourself – you are an absolute credit to the uniform that you so proudly wear. Thank you.”
Individual Winner Three
Tracy Leck, Nurse Specialist in Plastic Surgery
Tracy was nominated by a patient who she had cared for overtime and was described as “understanding, kind and gentle and knowledgeable”. Examples given showed that she had gone above and beyond during her care, instilling “the utmost confidence.”
Individual Winner Four
Brian Quinn, Maintenance Craftsperson in Engineering at the RVI
Brian has supported the Pharmacy Production Unit for a number of years and has always been seen as the man that can ‘fix anything’. His nomination said: “Recently, we had a problem with a major piece of equipment. Due to the age of the equipment, parts are now obsolete so if it was anything major, a repair was going to be unlikely. The need for this equipment is vital for our procedures so Brian continued to work on the machine himself until he finally came up with a fix.
“Brian went way over and above to assist us with getting this machine back up and running – he has shown his dedication to the Pharmacy production unit in many ways over the years having a vast knowledge of all of the equipment and he always attends to the urgent and sometimes obscure requests like to manufacture something without any question.
“Brian definitely deserves this award and we as a team appreciate everything he does and has done for us over the years, he is a valuable asset to the Trust team.”
