Kind, Connected and Bold Award winners

Good Hope Hospital

Amy Hughes, Staff Nurse, Acute Medicine

Nominated by a patient’s relative, who said: “My son received outstanding care at the Same Day Emergency Care Unit at Good Hope Hospital. This is especially relevant as my son functions at an 18-month-old level and therefore exhibits unpredictable and challenging behaviours. Amy liaised will all multi-disciplinary teams for my son to receive the best possible personalised care. The care was incredibly dignified, empowering and efficient, and was also delivered in the most empathetic and selfless way.” 

Dr James Bailey, Consultant and Graham Langford, Senior Charge Nurse, Acute Medicine

For their incredible hard work and innovating practice within the Acute Medicine department. Dr Bailey and Graham have created a new live whiteboard that supports patient flow within the Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) Unit. This work will support nursing and medical teams to work more efficiently and improve patient care and experience. Their work has allowed for further innovation to support an inclusive culture in their department and improve staff experience.

Natasha Salmon, Matron, Endoscopy, Trauma and Orthopaedics and Gastroenterology

Nominated by a colleague, who said: “We received a compliment from the West Midlands Ambulance Service team for the care and support Natasha provided to a patient who had collapsed outside a local shop. Despite not being on duty, Natasha went above and beyond to support both the patient and crew, providing compressions, maintaining the patient’s airway and staying on the scene until the patient was stabilised and taken to hospital. Natasha also visited the hospital later that evening to check on the patient and his family.”

Pharmacy Team, Clinical Support Services 

For always going above and beyond for patient care. The team supports medical teams even when under increased pressure. The team processes electronic prescriptions efficiently to ensure the timely discharge of patients. 

Heartlands Hospital

Urology Registrars 

Nominated by a colleague, who said: “Over the 24-hour service we provide, all staff in the Telephone Exchange recognise that most calls we connect daily from our on-call rotas are taken by the Urology Registrars. They work 24-hour shifts. The Urology Registrars are always cheerful and polite and take every call with a smile in their voice at any time of the day despite working long hours. We realise firsthand how hard they work and would like them to be recognised for their dedication and hard work for The Trust and patient care.”

Ward 32, Stroke Medicine 

Nominated by a patient’s relative, who said: “My dad was recently an inpatient on Ward 32 Stroke Medicine, but unfortunately lost his battle last month. I would like to nominate the ward for their kindness, compassion and care. They went above and beyond to make dad’s final journey as peaceful and dignified as they could.”

Tom Wiggins, Clinical Service Lead, Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery 

For Tom’s support, kindness and approachability. Tom goes the extra mile for patients and has worked tirelessly to drive his department forward. Tom makes decisions with compassion and has ideas that aid the improvement of the service, the team and our patients.

Emily Cooke, Sister, Acute Medicine  

For Emily’s promotion of kindness and compassion within her team. Emily goes above and beyond and takes time out to support colleagues who are struggling. Emily shows professional maturity and is a role model to others. 

Joanna Maycock, Nurse, Healthcare of Older People

Nominated by a colleague, who said: “I would like to nominate Joanne for an award, she is a loyal worker and despite all the trials and tribulations the ward has gone through, she has always remained loyal at every level.” 

Dr Steve Taylor, Consultant Physician, Sexual Health and HIV Medicine, Infectious Diseases

For Steve’s incredible dedication and being the driving force behind the launch of the Emergency Department’s blood borne virus opt out testing programme. Steve has spent many hours working on this and collaborated with different departments to make this project a reality. 

The Mortuary Team

Nominated by a colleague, who said: “The team provides outstanding patient care to all deceased patients. They spend most of their shift making sure patients are washed and dressed in clean clothes. Working long hours during busy shifts, they not only look after deceased patients, but they also provide great care to the tiny babies in the department. The team have fundraised to support bereaved parents.”

Joaquin De Castro, Radiographer, Imaging, Radiology

For Joaquin’s exceptional support he provided to his colleagues in the X-ray department. Joaquin is incredibly kind, helpful and patient when assisting patients. Joaquin is extremely dedicated to his role, consistently goes above and beyond and shows empathy to colleagues and patients.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Maryam Sedighi-Dehkordi, Student Nursing Associate, Acute Medicine 

For Maryam’s empathetic care and support of a patient with dementia. Maryam treated the patient with kindness, compassion and was extremely patient. Maryam didn’t have any expectations of how the patient should behave, calmed them down and treated them with dignity. 

Victoria Siddons, Consultant, Emergency Medicine 

For Victoria’s dedication and commitment to the implementation of blood borne virus (BBV) opt out testing within the Emergency Department, ensuring that patients are tested when they come into our Emergency Department. Vicki established BBV champions who are passionate about the project within the team and got them on board with the project. The early success of BBV opt out testing at Queen Elizabeth Hospital is partly due to Vicki’s hard work, and she is always on hand to answer queries the team or patients may have.

Jane Dallaway, Housekeeping Operative, Facilities 

Nominated by a colleague, who said: “As a porter it is often quite difficult to navigate and find a clear path through the ward. There is usually a clear path through Ward 302 which makes a big difference to porters when guiding beds through the ward. I have spoken to Jane, and she has told me she always tries to make sure items are kept to one side of the ward. If every ward was like Ward 302 it would make my job much easier.” 

Charlie Beddows, Receptionist and Support Worker, Radiotherapy

For Charlie’s support to new starters and his willingness to help them settle into their new role. Charlie treats all of his colleagues and patients with exemplary respect and kindness. Charlie puts others before himself and goes out of his way to help everyone to the best of his ability.

Home Haemodialysis Team, Radiotherapy  

Nominated by a colleague, who said: “The home haemodialysis team do everything. They go above and beyond to help us train and they are always there when we need them.” 

Claudine Bailey, Nurse, Aretha Gordon, Nurse,  and Shantelle Jones, Healthcare Assistant, Trauma and Orthopaedics  

For going the extra mile and organising a hugely popular and successful Black History Month celebration on their ward. Claudine, Aretha, and Shantelle planned and cooked a variety of Caribbean food that was sold to raise money for the ward at a cost to themselves. The event was well attended, and they raised money for our patients while highlighting black history.

Kelly Hood, Principal Maxillofacial Prosthetist, Maxillofacial Prosthetics  

For Kelly’s outstanding kindness and going above and beyond for patients, colleagues and visitors. Kelly demonstrates this by making visitors and students feel comfortable, offering help and advice to colleagues who visit the department, and making sure patients are well looked after and have everything they need. Kelly is exceptional and puts people at ease to make their hospital visit stress free.

Cellular Pathology Administration Team 

For the team’s resilience and positive attitude towards changes. The team has shown an amazing ability to adapt from operating as individual site teams to operating as one Trust team. The team has supported one another and overcome obstacles throughout this change. They have managed to reduce their outstanding backlogs through this collaboration.

Radiopharmacy Team

Nominated by a colleague, who said: “Recently, there was major shortage of a critical isotope used for nuclear medicine scans which could have left many hospitals unable to provide urgent scans. Jilly and her team jumped into action, working with other hospitals and national health teams to manage the limited supply and make sure the most urgent cases were prioritised. They co-ordinated everything to keep as many services running as possible.” 

Solihull Hospital

Decontamination Team, Facilities 

For the team showing remarkable collaboration, creativity and dedication to their work. Sharon and the team are extremely kind and supportive of each other. The team has worked incredibly hard to make their work safer and productive for colleagues and patients. 

Elaine Smith, Nurse, Cardiology

Nominated by a patient, who said: “Elaine has played a vital role in connecting gaps within the system and ensuring I received the vital care I needed, probably preventing a repeat cardiac event that could have been fatal. I am so grateful to Elaine for helping to connect the dots in my care and thereby keeping me alive.” 

Community

Safina Kassam, Early Intervention Matron, Solihull Hospital and Community Services  

For Safina’s huge support for out of hospital services. Safina consistently goes above and beyond for both her team and the patients she serves as Matron for Norman Power Centre, Homeward Centre, Solihull Virtual Wards, and Solihull Urgent Community Response. Safina has supported the lead up to opening the community run P2 bedded facility (Elmdon Unit) at Solihull Hospital. Safina handles challenges with grace, ensuring everything is completed to a high standard. She prioritises her patients when making decisions and is a fantastic matron.

Lucy Wootton, Urgent Community Response and Virtual Ward Team Lead, Solihull Hospital and Community Services

Nominated by a colleague, who said: “Lucy is my Clinical Nurse lead and has supported me with personal problems. Lucy went above and beyond to look after my mental and physical health. Working full time and undertaking an apprenticeship foundation degree, on top of placements was tough. I was also struggling outside of work in my home environment. Lucy’s support got me through, for which I will always be grateful.”

Corporate

Trauma and Orthopaedics Booking Team, ABC – Appointments, Solihull Hospital and Community Services

Nominated by a colleague, who said: “Due to unforeseen issues, the opening of the Elective Hub at Solihull Hospital had been delayed. The affected bookings teams worked hard to ensure there was little, or no impact from the short delay. They went above and beyond whilst remaining connected, kind and bold throughout the process, which at times had them deal with the increased challenge of navigating patient expectation whilst working closely with the Operations team to make the necessary effective changes to theatre lists.”

Sarah Murray, Resuscitation Officer, Corporate Nursing, Queen Elizabeth Hospital 

For working incredibly hard over the past year on the 2024 Restart a Heart initiative for the Trust. Sarah arranged for the UHB Resuscitation service to take their Restart a Heart campaign outside of the Trust and deliver it to the general public at Birmingham New Street station. Through Sarah’s dedication, members of the public were given lifesaving CPR training. The dedication and imagination Sarah showed will have far reaching impact across our communities and will improve the chances of survival for those who suffer cardiac arrests in the community. 

Neil Parmar, Digital Media Content Officer, Clinical Education, Queen Elizabeth Hospital 

Nominated by a colleague, who said: “I work in the Practice Placement Team and as a team we have come up with numerous ideas to help improve the placement experience for the student nurses at UHB. Neil has always listened to our ideas, given us advice, and helped to make these ideas a reality. These projects would not have happened without Neil, as in our team we do not have the knowledge, expertise or equipment. He has taken portraits so that student nurses can put a face to the name of team members and recorded and edited a video tour of the hospital to be used during the induction process, to help reduce placement nerves and anxiety.”

Payroll Team, Finance, Regent Court and Yardley Court

Nominated by a colleague, who said: “The department faced a hard challenge during the implementation of the pay award for all UHB colleagues, as well as the 26 other NHS Trusts the payroll team provide payroll services for. The pay award affects thousands of colleagues across the UK, and I feel that the department needs to be recognised for carrying this out successfully.”  

Research and Development

Lesley Horton, Pathology, Research and Development, Heartlands Hospital 

For Lesley’s continued enthusiasm and dedication to her work. Lesley goes out of her way to help colleagues, both in and outside her department, doing her best to ensure the day-to-day running of Research and Development remains as smooth as possible. Lesley has trained and guided new starters, alongside her busy schedule so that the service can continue to run efficiently. She greets everyone with a smile, offers support and shares her knowledge with colleagues. Lesley goes above and beyond her duties so that the department works at its very best.

Women’s and Children’s

Community Team Leaders 

Nominated by a colleague, who said: “The Community team leaders have been working under extreme staffing pressures and have tried their best to deliver a good antenatal and post-natal service to service users.”

Janette Griffin, Maternity Support Worker, Obstetrics, Heartlands Hospital 

For Janette’s kind and caring nature. Janette goes the extra mile for patients and is very supportive of her colleagues. Janette gets involved in a range of things with a positive attitude.