If a proof was ever needed, Exceptional People Awards for June testify that Covid hasn’t put brakes on service development at Oxford Health.
The individual award goes to End of Life Lead Siobhan Bennet who has led new service provision for community hospitals. And team of the month are the Bucks Neuromodulation Team who’ve established rTMS as a permanent service in Whiteleaf for people with treatment-resistant depression.
Trust Chair David Walker opened the awards ceremony at Littlemore, saying:
“These awards one way of showing that the Trust really wants to – and does – recognise those who are exceptional. It is also a way to emphasise the importance of your work to families, patients and the Trust as a whole.”
In the picture above from left: consultant Dr David Welchew, ST5 Catherine Davison-Fischer, rTMS and ECT lead nurse Helen Haigh, staff nurse Tracy Ryder, director of corporate affairs Kerry Rogers, Trust chair David Walker, End of Life lead Siobhan Bennett, matron Julie Beardmore, head of service Kate Riddle and CEO Dr Nick Broughton.
Champion of patients’ wishes
David handed over to Director of Corporate Affairs Kerry Rogers who presented the individual award to End of Life Lead Siobhan Bennett.
Siobhan had been nominated by Senior Matron Helen Hunt, who wrote that Siobhan had been instrumental in establishing this new service provision – in the midst of challenges from staff shortages and Covid outbreaks.
Helen praised Siobhan for championing the wishes of patients, creating an emotionally safe environment for staff, patients and carers, and passionately striving for improvement:
“She will not give up if she feels something could be better, be this an environmental factor or a nursing need.”
Siobhan had also received lovely feedback from families of her patients:
“As X’s dedicated nurse, you allowed him to tell his awful jokes, engaged in his banter and allowed his grumpy episodes to wash over you. You were a massive support to all of us whilst we were there – sensitive, calm and considerate.”
Siobhan was presented with an engraved trophy, a certificate and a £50 voucher to treat herself.
Head of Service Kate Riddle commented:
“The work of replacing the Sue Ryder beds took place under massive system pressures which were compounded by Covid. Siobhan has shone through it all and I have heard only good things about her.”
The team that didn’t give up
The team award was presented by CEO Dr Nick Broughton.
“I really think that good teamwork is the foundation of good health care so I am very pleased we introduced the team award as part of this scheme,” he said and read out the nomination.
The Bucks Neuromodulation Team are responsible for electroconvulsive therapy ECT and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation ( rTMS) at the Whiteleaf Centre in Aylesbury. They were nominated by lead nurse Helen Haigh who wrote:
[“This] passionate and determined team are committed to innovation and development to advance patient care in line with research and development.”
Helen noted that in the recent ECT accreditation standards (ECTAS) review the team achieved commendations in all four possible domains.
Another feather in their cap is establishing the rTMS as a permanent service at Whiteleaf, following a successful pilot and “approximately two years of persistence – we did not give up!”
rTMS provides new hope for people with treatment-resistant depression and has received good feedback from patients.
The team were presented with an engraved trophy, a certificate and £100 voucher – which they immediately planned to spend on enhancing the waiting room at their clinic.
Nominate now for July!
Make someone’s summer even more magnificent and nominate them for Exceptional People Awards! Cut-off date for July is July 13.
However, nominations are accepted at any time, so if you miss a certain month’s deadline, your nomination will simply roll into the following month. Fill in a nomination form online here.
And to recap the basics:
- Individual award is judged by a panel of Trust governors who represent patients, carers and members of the public
- Team award is judged by a panel from the Trust executive team
- Individual winner receives an engraved trophy, a certificate and a £50 gift voucher
- Winning team receive an engraved trophy, a certificate and a £100 gift voucher
- We celebrate our winners and highly commended across Trust media – website, intranet, the Bulletin and social media, and offer them for interviews in local media.
Published: 30 June 2022