Unable to attend Tuesday’s award giving ceremony, we’re grateful to Michelle Russell for sharing her report from the evening. Ed
The proactive campaign by the Volunteer Service Project Group at Isle of Wight NHS Trust to raise awareness of volunteering in order to recruit greater numbers to support the services delivered by the NHS on the Isle of Wight, was rewarded on Tuesday evening (20 November) when they won not just the ‘Improving Staff Health & Wellbeing’ Award at the NHS Isle of Wight “Celebrating Excellence and Innovation in Health Care on the Island’ Awards, but also the Chairman’s Diamond Award for Overall Winner, beating entries from across all areas of healthcare.
Volunteer Service project
The aim of the Volunteer Service project is to recruit and train volunteers and develop working relationships within and across organisations.
The success has been huge with numbers increasing significantly over the last year from 90 verified volunteers to over 300 working in a wide variety of departments across the hospital and in the community.
Feedback from staff, carers and, most importantly, patients has been incredibly positive. Patients particularly appreciate the time that the Volunteers can give to them which the paid staff may not be able to do, for example, the opportunity to sit and chat, read a newspaper, do a jigsaw – small things that can make a real difference to a patient’s experience.
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Chaplaincy service
One of the many successes of the Volunteer Service, is the Chaplaincy service which has trained seven dedicated volunteers to be available to support, comfort and chaperone patients during the unsociable hours of 8pm to midnight while they are attending A&E.
Kelvin Burke, Senior Chaplain, said, “These Volunteers provide support and solace to patients and carers at an acute time in their lives, for example, their visit to A&E. They come into the hospital at unsociable hours. They get basic training and listening skills from us and go in equipped to deal with whatever they are faced with at A&E. I really commend their work.”
“Honoured that Volunteer Service was nominated”
Richard Dent, Volunteer Co-Ordinator, said, “I was very pleased and honoured that the Volunteer Service was nominated and short listed for an award. It reflects all the hard work, time, effort and dedication that the volunteers have put into the organisation over the last year and for many years before. I know the hospital could operate without volunteers, but it would be a lot less caring and supportive environment.”
“To win the category of Improving Staff Health and Wellbeing, in such a convincing manner was amazing. Particularly that it was voted for by staff and colleagues on the night – so we must be doing something right! I was very proud that we had a number of volunteers there on the evening, as the award is for them and they richly deserve the recognition.”
“To then win the Chairman’s Diamond award, was the icing on the cake. The nominations were all worthy winners, and there was very stiff competition. But a fantastic result and I was very, very proud of the volunteers there and all the Trust volunteers. I hope this is now the catalyst to drive forward the volunteer service for many years to come, and the success will be paramount in achieving recurring funding for the service.”
‘Staff Health & Wellbeing’ Award
Carole Reed, Field Sales Manager, Isle of Wight for 3663, sponsor of the ‘Staff Health & Wellbeing’ Award said, “As a supplier to the hospital and an Islander myself, I am so very proud to have the opportunity to work with the team at St. Mary’s.
“I am extremely passionate about supporting our local community, so it is very fitting that the Volunteer Service Project Group won the award category for Health and Well Being, and also the Diamond Award. We are such a lucky community to have the dedication and passion of our volunteer workers.”
Over 60 entries
There were over 60 entries for the main eight Awards which were shortlisted down to three for each category by a panel which included patient and staff representatives.
The winners were selected by the audience using electronic voting after viewing a short informative film about each of the three nominated projects for each Award category.
And the winners are…
The winners of the eight Awards are:
Innovation in Healthcare – sponsored by Logica – New Technique in Breast Cancer Surgery (General & Breast Surgery)
Improving Patient Access – sponsored by INPS Vision – ‘Check It Out’ Young Peoples Forum (CYP and Maternity Commissioning)
Working Together in Partnership – sponsored by Valentia – The Hub (Ambulance Service)
Improving Patient Safety – sponsored by JAC and First Databank – Reducing lower limb amputations people with diabetes (Podiatry Department)
Health Improvement and Reducing Inequality – sponsored by Clarke’s Mechanical – Reduce Smoking in Pregnancy (Public Health)
Supporting Excellence in Healthcare (behind the scenes) – sponsored by Allocate Software – Management Information – CCG (PIDS)
Improving Staff Health & Wellbeing – sponsored by 3663 – The Volunteer Service Project and Support (Human Resources) – Overall Winner
Research & Development – sponsored by University of Portsmouth – Research into Incidence of Surgical Site Infection – Clare Louise Sandell
Each of the winning projects received a cheque for £500 from the sponsor of the Award to go towards the further development of their project. The Volunteer Service also received a further £500 towards their project by winning the Chairman’s Award as the Overall Winner.
Individual and Team Recognition’ Awards
Individual and Team Recognition’ Awards were also presented in addition to the main Awards. These are in recognition of a staff member, volunteer or team who have gone ‘the extra mile’ to improve patient care or supported colleagues or staff in some way.
These were presented to:
Island Award for outstanding achievement by a nurse or midwife :
Highly commended : Jackie Whiller, Staff Nurse, Coronary Care Unit, Joane Gilliam, Support Time Recovery Worker, Osborne Ward and Julie Gurney, Community Nurse, Ryde District Nurses
Winner : Gary Whitwam, IV Nurse Specialist for OHPAT, Intermediate Care Team Luccombe Ward – sponsored by Bevan Brittan
Medina Award for allied healthcare professionals for excellence & innovation in practice : Paul Sanders, Theatre Practitioner – sponsored by Minghella
Walsh Clinical Presentation Award : Dr Joanna Woodall – sponsored by Wightlink
The Sandy Reed Rosebowl Award – awarded to healthcare assistants or nursing auxiliaries who have demonstrated significant success as part of an NVQ programme : Lucie Carroll – sponsored by Wightlink
Solent Award for the most outstanding team (non clinical or a mixture of both) :
Highly commended : Breast Screening Team
Winner : Prison Healthcare Team – sponsored by Mansell Construction
Clinical Educator of the Year Award : Dr Nilesh Satgurunathan – sponsored by ID Medical
Vectis Award for excellence by a Doctor : Dr Jenny Collier – sponsored by KPMG
Osborne Award for excellence by a Non Clinical Band 5 and above : Martin Fuller
Wight Award for the most outstanding volunteer :
Highly commended : John and Stella Page
Winner : Hospital Voluntary Car Service – sponsored by Spectrum Western Challenge
Carisbrooke Award for excellence by a Non Clinical Band 4 and below : Duncan Fleming – sponsored by Capital Symonds
Rotary Awards
The Rotary Award for Excellence in Clinical Practice – Laura Moody
The Rotary Award for Innovation in Clinical Practice – Louise Carrington
The Leadership Award : Iain Hendey, Performance Manager, PIDS
Clinical Leadership Award : Shane Moody, Lead Nurse and Advance Nurse Practitioner
The Ambulance Colour Party attended the stage whilst the Island’s High Sheriff, Nick Hayward presented : Gerald Copnell, who is retiring from the hospital car service after 15 years of voluntary service, with an ambulance service certificate of recognition and plaque; and Chris Smith, Head of the Ambulance Service, with his Long Service Medal for 20 years service plus two Bars to the Award for five years each. Chris also received his Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal which has been awarded to all frontline ambulance service staff this year.
“Opportunity for us to recognise and applaud all staff”
Mark Price, Foundation Trust Programme Director and Chairman of the NHS Isle of Wight Celebrations Group said: “These Awards are very important as they provide the opportunity for us to recognise and applaud all staff working within the NHS on the Island for their commitment to introducing new ways of working to ensure best possible care for patients. Once again we have had around 60 entries for the main awards this year and it is a very difficult task to determine which ones then go through as finalists on the night. As far as I am concerned, they are all winners.”
Danny Fisher, Chairman of the NHS Isle of Wight Trust, said “This year, we are again pleased to present awards to individuals and teams who have made a significant contribution to the work of the NHS on the Island. The things that make a difference to our patients are not necessarily major changes or huge projects – small changes can mean a big improvement in the patient experience.”
Fun-packed evening
Around 400 guests including the Island’s High Sheriff, County Councillors, NHS staff, sponsors, partners and members of the local community enjoyed an evening of fun, laughter and celebration at the NHS Isle of Wight ‘Celebrating Excellence and Innovation in Healthcare on the Island’ Awards which were held at Medina Theatre on Tuesday evening (20th November).
Entertainment for the evening was provided by the students of Medina College and included a pianist, the Ukelele Orchestra and Medina performing arts students performed 3 extracts from their upcoming production of ‘Jesus Christ Super Star’.
The NHS Isle of Wight ‘Celebrating Excellence and Innovation in Healthcare’ Awards were introduced in 2008 as part of the NHS 60 Celebrations. The Awards provide the opportunity for the many NHS teams across the Island and Trust partners, to be recognised and applauded for their commitment to introducing new ways of working to ensure the best possible care for patients on the Island.
NHS Isle of Wight would like to thank all the Sponsors without whose generous support the Awards evening would not have been possible.
Local business, Minghella, kindly supported the evening by providing tubs of ice cream for all the guests to enjoy!
