Winners of Values In Practice Awards announced

1 October 2019

A team of doctors and nurses who “provided strength, confidence and calmness” for a toddler during the “darkest hours of her life” were among the winners at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust’s (SaTH) annual staff awards. 

Doctor Nicos Vrahimis and Nurses Kirsty Bennett and Beckie Nock, who work on Ward 19 at the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford, claimed the Patient Experience Award at the Trust’s Values in Practice (VIP) Awards on Friday (28 September) evening after they were nominated by the mother of two-year-old Bethany.

Bethany’s mum said: “I am simply in awe of those who can work tirelessly in such emotionally charged situations. They provided strength, confidence and calmness without seeming even fazed.

“They were a shining light during the darkest hours of Bethany’s life and I will remember each one of them for the rest of my life. Bethany still has the small yellow hospital blanket and she still takes it to bed with her every night.”

The awards ceremony, which took place at RAF Cosford, rewards staff who have made a positive difference to the lives of patients and their families.

There were nine award categories in total. The other winners were (more photographs are available on the VIP Award Site):

• Rising Star Award: Alex Griffiths-Brown.

Alex is passionate about rehabilitation and during her time working in audiology she has created links between SaTH and an international think-tank on hearing rehab. She has also become the Trust’s main link with the Shropshire Rural Communities Charity, ‘The Sight and Hearing Loss Service’. 

• Team of the Year Award: The MRI Scanner Team.

The Trust has installed three new MRI scanners across both hospital sites over the past year and the staff involved in the installation ensured it happened quickly and smoothly. Normally such an undertaking would be done at staggered intervals, as the replacement of a scanner takes 16 weeks, but to ensure a quick transition for patients the work was done in one go.

• Volunteer of the Year Award: The End of Life Care Volunteers.

This small band of volunteers give up their own time to sit and care for end of life patients who have few or no family. They are an amazing group of people, many of whom have lost loved ones themselves, who support patients and families at the hardest of times.

• Improvement of the Year Award: The Gynae Ambulatory Care Team.

The team have worked tirelessly over the last year to develop new and innovative procedures for the treatment of menorrhagia, post-menopausal bleeding and missed miscarriage. They have implemented a new one-stop service that has reduced the number of clinic attendees from four a month to just one.

• Inspirational Leader of the Year Award: Corrin Dorsett.
  

  Corrin Dorsett, Ward Manager on the Critical Care Unit at RSH, was named Inspirational Leader of the Year. She received her award from Deirdre Fowler, Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Quality.

Corrin is the Ward Manager of the Critical Care Unit at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH). She is the perfect example of a modern-day leader who has empowered her staff to make decisions for the unit, allowing them the freedom to have ideas and implement them. The Critical Care Unit at RSH was recently awarded Diamond status in the Trust’s Exemplar Ward improvement programme.

• Learner of the Year: Urvasee Patel.

During the past 12 months Urvasee has undertaken significant training to assist the Trust’s Ophthalmology department. She has quickly developed new skills while always providing an excellent service to patients.

• Behind the Scenes Award: Vic Davies.

The popular Cleanliness Technican on Ward 25 at RSH is not only known for his outstanding work ethic but his kind-hearted approach with patients and relatives. He has been described as an “invaluable asset who always has a smile on his face and is polite and helpful with staff and patients”. 

• VIP of the Year: The Procurement Team and A&E Teams at RSH and PRH.

This was the last award of the evening and brought all of the monthly VIP award winners together to find out who would be named the overall winner. In the end the judges decided on joint winners, with the Procurement Team being recognised for making major improvement in stores and stock management while the A&E teams were rewarded for their continued dedication to patient care while working under extreme pressures. 

Simon Wright, Chief Executive of SaTH, said: “To sit in a room full of so many brilliant members of staff who live our Values – Proud To Care, Make It Happen, We Value Respect and Together We Achieve – every day was truly inspiring and it is of huge importance that we celebrate the fantastic work that takes place across our Trust everyday by staff, volunteers and charities.

“We received hundreds of worthy nominations that provided the judging panels with a really difficult job when it came to narrowing each category down to a shortlist of just three. I thank all of our staff for the hard work and dedication they put into their job every day.”

More than 350 members of staff attended the awards ceremony while earlier in the day 40 members of staff were presented with a Long Service Award for working in the NHS for 25 years and 40 years.

The 2018 awards ceremony was presented by Carl Jones, an award-winning journalist, while an emotional tribute was paid to former BBC Shropshire broadcaster Vicki Archer, the award ceremony’s presenter for the past two years, who passed away earlier this year.

The awards were made possible thanks to the generosity of the evening’s sponsors: The University of Wolverhampton, Wassenburg Medical, Toyota Tsusho Logistics, MCL Energy, Wenlock Spring, Capsticks, Hill Dickinson and Telford College.