‘Selfless’ Kirsty wins Making a Difference Award
Kirsty Bishop, a Complimentary Therapist at the Nightingale Macmillan Unit at Royal Derby Hospital, has been awarded with one of our monthly Making a Difference Awards for her brilliant work in the Unit.
Kirsty was paid a surprise visit to be provided with the award, alongside her colleagues who were ecstatic that she was being given the honour.
The Nightingale Macmillan Unit provides a wide range of palliative care services at Royal Derby Hospital to patients with cancer, including various personalised care across departments. While including holistic end of life care and complex discharge planning, this is not just medical care, but also wider physical, mental care and wellbeing support.
In Kirsty’s words, “it’s not just about being poorly, it’s about how being poorly can affect you in many other ways – and that’s where we can help”. She also said she felt “a bit overwhelmed” by receiving the award for “just doing her job”.
“This has really made my day – and it’s so nice to know that my team and I are heard and seen by others in the Trust.
“Sometimes, since we’re not anywhere else at UHDB, I think people walking our corridors may see us and not recognise who we are and what we do since they don’t recognise our uniforms!
“But, to get this appreciation means a lot – and I hope others read this and decide to find out more about what we do.”
The member of staff who nominated Kirsty for the award said that there are “so many strings to her bow, and she’s so much more than a Complimentary Therapist.
“Kirsty is such an asset to us – she is completely selfless, always puts in 100%, and has skills in every area of the Unit.
“She gives her absolute all to the patients, as well as their friends, family and relatives - she puts a smile on every face she comes past and has so much passion for what she does.”
Asked whether anyone else in #TeamUHDB should nominate their colleagues for a monthly Making a Difference Award, Kirsty said: “Just do it!
“Every single person can bring so much to the organisation and their department, and things like this go such a long way in reminding people of the value they bring.
“For us, the whole ward has had a really hard time throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, but we’re beginning to emerge from the worst of that now, and being given an award for my work makes me and the team feel validated in what we do.”
If you would like to nominate a colleague or team for a Monthly Making a Difference Award, please let us know. There are four monthly Making a Difference Awards categories:
Chief Executive Award – chosen by our CEO
Patient Hero Award – nominated by patients
Team UHDB Award – you can nominate your team or another team
Excellent Employee Award – you can nominate your colleagues
You can send a 300 word nomination, along with the name of the team or individual, their job title and where they work, to: uhdb.employeeawards@nhs.net