Allied Health Professions (AHP) day is on Saturday 14 October 2023, but this year Newcastle Hospitals haven’t just been celebrating for one day. We have celebrated our AHP workforce across the entire week culminating in a very special event today (Friday 13 October).
Our AHP support workforce are vital members of the team, supporting their work colleagues as they endeavour to provide the highest quality of care for patients every single day as well as providing direct patient care making a real difference to thousands of families – both in hospital settings and out in the community each year.
Today’s special event placed a spotlight on the essence of Newcastle’s AHP support workforce, highlighting their brilliance and shining a spotlight on their roles and how much we value them through an Awards Ceremony focusing on five categories:
Innovation Award
This award celebrates individuals who have:
- Suggested or supported new ways / approaches to working
- Shown adaptability and efficiency in delivery of patient care / support
- Effectively problem solved
- Demonstrated ability to be proactive
Six nominations received for this award.
And the Winner was …
Sam Cessford – Physiotherapy Technical Instructor
Sam has been integral to the adoption of “Kidney Beam” – a new online platform helping kidney patients take care of their physical and mental health. He has shown initiative by developing ‘group sessions’ so that more patients were able benefit from the programme using his clinical knowledge and skills to tailor the programme around each patient’s individual needs.
Sam’s nomination described how he ‘goes above and beyond in his role, supporting the team in delivery of sessions, ensuring the health and well-being of patients through being proactive, and effectively problem solving to ensure a great service.’ Congratulations!
Innovation nominees
Care and compassion for teams Award
This award celebrates individuals who have:
- Shown a genuine and consistent willingness to support the team or a team member, which goes beyond normal day to day working practices
- Contributed to delivery of the service, which supported the team in delivering its best and highest quality care
- A willingness to step up and support the team beyond what is expected day to day
- Demonstrated kindness and care towards the team, through day-to-day behaviour, thoughts and actions.
Six nominations received for this award.
And the Winner was …
Gillian Bennett – Dietetic Assistant Practitioner
Gillian’s colleagues refer to her as ‘the machine’ for the amount of work that she gets through, managing a challenging community caseload of 80-100 patients. In supporting the community oral nutritional service, Gillian has stepped up to support during staffing vacancies to ensure service delivery continues and referrals are prioritised.
Gillian uses her wealth of experience to support other staff members, and shares her knowledge through teaching and mentoring and is described as a ‘valued and exceptional member of the team.’ congratulations.
Care and compassion for teams nominees
Care and compassion for patients Award
This award celebrates individuals who have:
- Shown a genuine and consistent willingness to support patients, which goes beyond normal day to day working practices
- Contributed to delivery of the service, which ensured patients received the best and highest quality care
- A willingness to step up and support patients beyond what is expected day to day
- Demonstrated kindness and care towards patients, through day-to-day behaviour, thoughts and actions.
Ten nominations were received for this award.
And the Winner was…
Emily Rands – Associate Practitioner in Occupational Therapy
Emily only joined the Lung Cancer Outpatient Service in February 2023, but since then has made a huge impact for both patients and their families receiving lots of positive feedback.
In particular Emily is noted for demonstrating huge compassion and dedication when supporting patients towards the end of their life, acting as their advocate ensuring their needs and wishes are met, and helping with referrals.
She does all she can to improve the patient’s quality of life which can include broaching difficult conversations such transferring to a hospice – something that she does with kindness and care.
Emily is described as an example of excellence – a huge asset to the team who often goes above and beyond. Congratulations.
Care and compassion for patients nominees
Rising Star Award
This award celebrates individuals who have:
- Shown a consistent and ambitious approach to development which has contributed to development in a current role or progression into another
- Been self-motivated and autonomous in their approach to their own development
- Role modelled and led good practice as part of their designated responsibilities, in the delivery of patient care
- Been consistently willing to both seek out and engage in learning and development opportunities.
Six nominations received for this award.
And the Winner was …
Beth Elder Speech and Language Therapy Assistant
Beth has only been with the team since January 2023 yet since this time she has made incredible gains in her understanding of communication and swallowing disorders, becoming a fountain of knowledge.
She has soared through her personal and competency goals, showing progress in all areas but particularly taking time to develop skills in delivering therapy for individuals with cognitive-communication impairments.
Beth takes time to identify and request CPD support and has developed resources in her own time, to ensure that patients get the most out of their therapy.
As well as developing her own skills Beth seeks to help others, recently setting up a peer supervision programme to ensure consistency across the service.
Rising Star nominees
Apprentice of the Year Award
This award celebrates individuals who have:
- Shown excellent progression and development over the course of their academic and practice-based study
- Become an exemplary role model as they move towards a registered role in their profession
- Admirably balanced working life, with the academic and practice placement demands, of an apprentice role
- Been proactive in creating practice-based learning opportunities for themselves and other AHP apprentices.
Seven nominations received for this award.
And the Winner was…
Alison Moffat – Diagnostic Radiographer
Alison has been an assistant practitioner with the Newcastle Hospitals for a number of years, and recently took the courageous decision to return to education, completing her degree apprenticeship to become a diagnostic radiographer.
Alison is a fantastic example of being able to achieve anything if you put your mind to it, through sheer hard work and determination.
From starting the apprenticeship Alison has achieved remarkable things to graduate as a radiographer. She has progressed further than anyone, teaching herself how to adapt along the way. Alison put countless hours into learning how to learn again, and has put all of this to good use in her academic pursuits.
Despite being busy with her studies, Alison maintained her willingness to teach new staff, students and visitors. Always the role model through demonstrating compassion, kindness and professionalism. Congratulations.
Apprentice nominees
