Staff and volunteers from Peterborough, Stamford and Hinchingbrooke hospitals have been honoured for their dedication and going the extra mile through a series of coveted awards. Winners from across North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust were celebrated at the annual Outstanding Achievement Awards 2024, where colleagues heard inspiring and emotive stories of incredible patient care and going over and above the call of duty.
This year, there were also special recognition awards for those who have developed and delivered service improvements across the Trust for the benefit of patients, and a special Chief Executive Officer gong – chosen personally by CEO Hannah Coffey.
More than 200 members of staff and volunteers were invited to the awards ceremony, which took place in the spectacular surroundings of Peterborough Cathedral and were hosted by BBC Radio Cambridgeshire presenter Chris Mann.
Nominees and winners on the night all received personal thanks from members of the Trust’s Board of Directors, including Chief Executive Officer Hannah Coffey and Trust Chair Professor Steve Barnett.
Awards were presented to outstanding recipients in a number of categories, including Team of the Year, Health Innovation or Improvement in Our Hospitals, Outstanding Individual of the Year and Volunteer of the Year. A series of publicly nominated Health Hero awards were also presented.
Many of the awards reflected the challenges individuals and teams rose to over the course of the last 12 months.
Trust Chief Executive Officer, Hannah Coffey, said: “I’m incredibly proud of our outstanding staff. The quality of the nominations across a wide variety of categories has been truly remarkable and it was fantastic to celebrate such great achievements.
“It felt very special to honour our staff in such a magnificent setting and I would like to thank all our nominees and winners for the dedication and care they provide to our patients and each other.”
Thanks also to the event sponsors; Progress Health, Ergea, CDW, RDP and Mitie.
Winners at the Outstanding Achievement Awards 2024:
Team of the Year
Winner – Stamford Gynaecology Outpatient Team, Stamford & Rutland Hospital.
Shortlisted – Kam Kotecha, Amy Gardford, Gerri Macdonald and David De Lisle, Victoria Darling and Gail Reilly, Workforce Corporate Division, Peterborough City Hospital.
Shortlisted – Delivery Midwives, Labour Ward Hinchingbrooke Hospital
Excellence in Admin, Clerical and Corporate Support of the Year
Winner – Matthew Robinson, Voice & Data Specialist (IT) Hinchingbrooke Hospital.
Shortlisted – Sean Dino, Patient Tracker Ward 2 (Surgery) Peterborough City Hospital.
Shortlisted – Sam Bygraves, Patient Services Manager (Facilities Management) Hinchingbrooke Hospital.
Health Innovation or Improvement of the Year
Winner – Chevvy Wright, Deputy Sister NICU Peterborough City Hospital.
Shortlisted – General Outpatients Department Peterborough City Hospital.
Shortlisted – Joann Cubbit, Ward Clerk, Walnut Ward, Hinchingbrooke Hospital.
Outstanding Contribution to Patient and/or Staff Safety of the Year
Winner – Kate Johnstone – Healthcare Assistant Ward 9 Peterborough City Hospital.
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Shortlisted – Peterborough Emergency Department Nursing Team.
Shortlisted – Hannah Claxton, Clinical Facilitator for Surgery and Tori Fergusson, Clinical Facilitator for Medicine – Practice Development Team.
Outstanding Individual of the Year
Winner – Yvonne Thompson, International Recruitment Lead and Resourcing Advisor.
Shortlisted – Anne-Marie Drury, Macmillan Palliative Care Nurse and Mary Sanderson, Cancer Wellbeing Service Art Specialist – Peterborough City Hospital.
Shortlisted – Tausif Khan, Chaplain.
Outstanding Leadership of the Year
Winner – Charlotte Carney, Emergency Department Sister, Peterborough City Hospital.
Shortlisted – Jetty Kuldeep, Speciality Doctor, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Peterborough City Hospital.
Shortlisted – Kate Hodge, Health, Safety & Security Manager.
Sustainability Award of the Year
Winner – Virtual Ward team.
Shortlisted – Arunas Paulauskas, Head of Estates (Retained Sites), Hinchingbrooke Hospital.
Shortlisted – Ruth Lattimore, Ward Manager Assistant, Virtual Ward Peterborough City Hospital.
Volunteer of the Year
Winner – Maggie Cummings, Peterborough City Hospital.
Shortlisted – Sue Burgess, Hinchingbrooke Hospital.
Shortlisted – Poppy Thrall, Peterborough City Hospital.
Back on Track Service improvement recognition for the team involved with:
Winner – Emergency Department nurse-led streaming at the front door – Peterborough.
Shortlisted – Same day colorectal CT scans for early diagnosis of cancer – Cross site.
Shortlisted – Same day knee replacement – Hinchingbrooke.
Chief Executive award:
Winner — Adam Jeffries, Assistant Director of Transformation, and Improvement
Nominated by the pubic:
Health Hero Award – Peterborough City Hospital
Winner – Dr Tim Jones, Consultant Paediatrician
Described by his nominator as a ‘living legend’, Dr Tim Jones has been praised for his professionalism and quick thinking which they believe saved their daughter’s life!
The nominator’s daughter was born 18 years ago with Super Ventricular Tachycardia (SVT), with a heart rate of 280-300 beats per minute. At just two-hours-old, her parents and older sister say they were terrified and scared for their newborn’s life.
“We were informed that this was unique and new for a newborn but were blessed that on this day Dr Tim was on shift in SCBU, acted professionally, swiftly and calmly made contact with a specialist at Glenfield (Dr Duke) to agree a plan of action which we believed saved her life,” said the nominator.
Despite statistics suggesting the baby would ‘grow out of it’, she has lived with SVT all her life and recently celebrated her 18th Birthday.
“Dr Tim is a living legend – his holistic approach to our daughter and our family has enabled her to achieve her milestones, and for us to help her manage the condition affectively,” added the nominator.
Shortlisted – Gemma Curtis and Lottie Symmans, HCA/ now Specialist Haematology Nurse.
Shortlisted – Caroline Lansell, Cancer Wellbeing Advanced Occupational Therapist and MBACP Counsellor.
Health Hero Award – Stamford & Rutland Hospital
Winner – Miss Jyoti Shah MBE, Macmillan Urological Consultant
Having already collected her MBE from King Charles earlier this year, Miss Jyoti Shah MBE is no stranger to receiving awards.
Described by her nominator as a ‘stand-out clinician’, Miss Shah leads the way locally in the fight against prostate cancer, giving up weekends to deliver a prostate health check bus at locations across the region.
And over the past 12 months, Miss Shah has introduced and developed a one-stop prostate clinic at Stamford & Rutland Hospital.
The nominator said: “Miss Shah was awarded an MBE from King Charles at the beginning of the year and how deserving she is! Her services to medicine and the work she has done in the screening and diagnosis of cancer patients in the local community is inspiring.
“Miss Shah leads the way in the fight against prostate cancer, seeing dozens of men boarding the mobile clinics for on-the-spot prostate health checks.”
Over 100 cases of prostate cancer – which kills one man in the UK every 45 minutes – have been caught by holding these important community clinics.
The nominator added: “Miss Shah’s efforts will most certainly be saving lives! She doesn’t just want to diagnose patients; she wants to ensure they have a positive experience, and that any symptoms post-treatment aren’t going to reduce the quality of life. She is an absolute asset to the Trust!”
Shortlisted – Dr Namita Arora, Pain Management / Anaesthetics Consultant.
Health Hero Award – Hinchingbrooke Hospital
Winner – Nicki Astle, Paediatric Epilepsy Nurse
“Nicki has been a pillar of support, advice and reliability for us through some of the most traumatising and stressful periods of the last few years of care for our daughter,” said her nominator.
Nicki’s public Health Hero award reflects the enormous gratitude felt by anxious parents of a child with complex needs, who was frequently cared for by Nicki.
“Despite an enormous workload, Nicki has never failed to respond, comfort, inform and react to emergencies and situations which have left our child in serious conditions and me extremely emotionally vulnerable,” they said.
“As a parent of an exceptionally complex child, individuals like Nicki are so precious in improving the lives of our entire family and quite literally saving the life of my child, and I will be eternally grateful for her professional knowledge, patience and kindness.”
Shortlisted – Rosie Kerr and Amy Souchard, Speech & Language Therapy.
Shortlisted – Dr Sivaprakash Vaitheeswaran, Anaesthetist.