Lloyd has worked in the Complex Needs Service for 20 years; he is the gatekeeper of the Complex Needs Service in Oxfordshire. The service is a tier three (specialist community) personality disorder service for adults of working age in Oxfordshire, providing a range of group therapy treatment.

Lloyd is committed to helping the patients receive great care. When patients call the service, he always takes time to listen to their needs, offering information, and signposting when required. The service receives numerous calls weekly from patients who are in distress, Lloyd is always patient with them and will talk them through their safety plans.

Lloyd goes the extra mile to help ensure great care is provided to those who need it in our communities, he truly contributes to making a difference to the care patients receive. He keeps them up to date with where they are in the system, advocates for them when necessary, and challenges clinicians when he feels a service user is not getting the best care.

He supports service users when they are in distress and always passes this on to an appropriate clinician and puts the contact on the Electronic Health Record (EHR). He frequently ensures the service runs smoothly, organising the groups, and speaking to service users to ensure they can get to the group session venues. He liaises with other services as necessary to pass on relevant information about service users, as well as to gather information as required.

Lloyd is extremely efficient, ensuring clinicians are completing essential admin tasks and offering to support — often putting in extra unpaid hours to make sure all the systems are up to date.

He is compassionate and caring towards his colleagues, taking exceptional care of the clinical team by checking they are ok and communicating with management when he thinks further support is needed to help those who may be struggling. He makes vital contributions in team meetings when discussing service developments, always holding the patients in mind.

Trust Chair David Walker said:

“Lloyd goes above and beyond to support patients, their loved ones, and his colleagues. He is so thoughtful towards the patients, making sure they are kept up to date and have as much information as possible. This award recognises his invaluable contribution to the service, always putting the patient first and helping wherever he can”.

Lloyd said:

“I am so pleased to win this award both for myself and for the wonderful team I have worked with for over 20 years now. I came to the NHS hoping to contribute something worthwhile to patient care and to my own self development and I feel like I have very much achieved both of these aims with the help, support, and dedication of those in an organisation within which I am delighted and happy to have spent so much time.”

The nomination

Lloyd was nominated by Service Lead Complex Needs Service Gill Attwood, for his caring and thoughtful nature, always being there for colleagues and patients.

Gill commented:

“Without Lloyd the Complex Needs Service would not run anywhere as smoothly as it does, he holds an overview of the whole service and any member of the team can approach him about anything, including service users and he will have the answer. I receive regular feedback from service users telling me how helpful and supportive he has been in guiding them through various processors.

“Lloyd is just exceptional all the time, there are many examples. He notices when colleagues are stressed and offers to make them a brew and a biscuit. He organises birthday cards for all his colleagues getting everyone in the team to sign them.

“He helps colleagues to sort out IT issues by calling IT for them, so they don’t have to waste time waiting for an answer. Helping patients to sort out transport, or benefit issues by signposting or contacting the relevant services directly to arrange call backs or get an answer to the query. Working more than his paid hours to ensure everything runs smoothly.”