Colleague who works in Car Parking team thanked by patient for 'act of kindness'
A member of the Car Parking team at Royal Derby Hospital has been praised for his "act of kindness" in helping a patient make it to their appointment on time.
Sue Stocks became stuck in heavy traffic when driving her mother, Margaret Wallis, to her appointment in the Kings Treatment Centre, and was becoming concerned about making the appointment time.
However, Paul Hewitt stepped in to help find Sue and Margaret a parking space, and helped Margaret, who uses a wheelchair and portable oxygen, into the hospital while Sue parked her car, preventing any further delays and distress.
Sue and Margaret were so touched by Paul's kindness and compassion, they nominated him for the Patient Hero Monthly Making a Difference Award, which he was presented with recently in the company of his colleagues.
Sue said: "The situation was becoming stressful and I discussed with Paul the urgency of being able to get my mum to her appointment.
"In what was an act of kindness in the face of a difficult job, Paul went the extra mile for us and we experienced excellent care beyond expectations from him.
"Paul has probably not realised what his actions meant that day. He was just being his usual outstanding self, going the extra mile routinely."
Paul, who has been a member of the Car Parking team for five years, said he didn’t have to think twice about helping Sue and her mum.
Paul said: "I do things like this as often as I can, and whenever I see someone in a challenging situation, I just want to help. It's very special to have had this patient and their family take the time to give me this recognition, and I'd like to thank them for this, but I just wanted to be able to make their situation that bit easier. "
Paul was presented with his Monthly Making a Difference Award by Amanda Rawlings, Chief People Officer, who thanked him for his actions.
Amanda said: "I read this nomination and thought of how incredibly touching it was that you went out of your way to help this patient and her family member. Coming to hospital can be difficult for some, so to see someone in distress and have no thought other than to do all you could to help is amazing and I just want to say a big thank you for everything you did for this patient.
"On behalf of everyone at UHDB, I want to congratulate you Paul, this was such a lovely act of compassion."
Nominate a colleague for a Monthly Making a Difference Award
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.