Making a Difference - Award Winners

The herculean effort that has gone into ensuring UHDB colleagues working across our five hospitals have received the right Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) over the last few months has now been recognised.

More than 4.4 million masks, visors and other items have been distributed across all departments by our superb PPE Teams, in order to protect staff and allow them to carry on caring for patients throughout the Covid-19 outbreak.

It cannot be understated how important the teams – based at Royal Derby Hospital and Queen’s Hospital Burton – have been to the Trust’s response to the pandemic, with colleagues working longer hours to keep up with extra demand and to proactively ensure we had all the stocks needed.

UHDB colleagues have been redeployed from all sorts of different departments to make up the teams, including Audiology, Procurement, Infection Prevention and Control, Strategy and Improvement, Medical Director's Office, Finance and the Library, with the PPE Teams issuing an incredible 155,868 masks in just one day last month!

As recognition for their tireless commitment to the cause throughout Covid-19, in roles that they wouldn’t have been familiar with before, both of the Trust’s PPE Teams have been presented with deserved Team UHDB Making a Difference Awards.

Kevin Downs, Executive Director of Finance and Performance, said: “I was really proud to be able to present this award, as I’ve seen both teams’ amazing work first hand. The work that they’ve done and are still doing has been critical to keeping everyone safe. I don’t think we would’ve been able to do what we’ve done in recent months without the commitment of these teams, so I want to say a big thank you to each of them.”

Our UHDB colleagues have done an incredible job providing our Covid-19 patients with the excellent care they deserve in recent months – but none of this would’ve been possible without the tireless efforts of the Fit Testing team.

Made up entirely of colleagues temporarily redeployed from a number of different departments, the team have worked around the clock to ensure as many staff as possible have been properly fitted with PPE that is sealed correctly, in order to keep them safe.  

Around 9,000 UHDB colleagues have now been fit tested at Royal Derby Hospital and Queen’s Hospital Burton, with the team’s thoroughness and attention to detail helping to protect staff and allowing them to carry out their valuable work with our patients.

It has taken a truly monumental effort from everyone in the Fit Testing team to make this possible, with UHDB colleagues being redeployed from Audiology, Strategy and Improvement, Learning & Education and Ophthalmology, while Medical and Forensic students have also made up the team.

The team have also recruited more than 200 members of staff to take part in an NHS England and NHS Improvement project to improve future procurement of respirator masks, with data collected from the study also contributing towards the design and manufacture of a potential new mask for NHS staff.  

It was entirely fitting then that the Fit Testing team was presented with a well-deserved Team UHDB Award, which was presented to the colleagues at both Royal Derby Hospital and Queen’s Hospital Burton.   

Kevin Downs, Executive Director of Finance and Performance, said: “To have done as many tests as the team have done is absolutely phenomenal. The Fit Testing team have done a great job keeping our hospitals running as normal and we couldn’t have done what we’ve done without them. The role they have played throughout this has been just as critical to helping those people who have managed to walk out of hospital as those colleagues who have been working on the frontline treating patients.”   

The last few months have understandably been extremely daunting for all of our pregnant women but UHDB’s maternity teams have truly gone above and beyond to provide them with priceless support.

Because of the threat of Covid-19, women have unfortunately not been able to have their loved ones with them for certain parts of their pregnancy journey as they normally would but our teams have truly stepped up to make them feel as comfortable as possible.    

The Labour Ward teams at Royal Derby Hospital and Queen’s Hospital Burton have played an enormously important role providing this compassionate care, while the Ward 314 team at RDH have also done a fantastic job offering invaluable reassurance to those whose birth partners have not been able to be there.  

At times like the last few months, where the risks associated to Covid-19 have understandably created heightened anxiety for our women, this support has been more important than ever, so it was a pleasure to this week present all three teams with Team UHDB Awards.

Dr Kathy McLean, UHDB Chair, presented both RDH teams with their awards, and said: “Throughout the pandemic, one of our key priorities has been to make sure that our pregnant women and their families receive the support that they need, and these colleagues have done this brilliantly. The Labour Ward and Ward 314 teams have helped ensure we’ve managed to provide a service that really needed to keep going, so the teams should all feel very proud of what they’ve done for our patients.”

Duncan Bedford, Executive Managing Director for Burton, presented the QHB Labour Ward with their award, and told the team: “I’m so proud of the work you have all done and the changes you have had to make to provide the care for our women and their families. It can’t have been easy; you’ve done an excellent job and I am so thankful to each and every one of you.”​

Midwifes and Maternity Support Workers who relocated from Samuel Johnson Midwifery Led Unit at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic have been awarded for their hard work, willingness and adapting to the changes that have been made within their team.

In the middle of May, our midwife-led birthing unit at Samuel Johnson Community Hospital, in Lichfield temporarily shut its doors. The decision was made as part of a planned strategy to help the Trust cope with extra pressures and demands being faced as a result of Covid-19.

The temporary closure of the unit allowed staff to be redeployed to our Queen’s Hospital Burton Maternity Wards where they provided an enhanced support to staff there.

Melanie Poley, Midwife, from SJCH said: “It was a real shock at first when we had to move. The move itself has been quite overwhelming but we have always strived to do our best.

“The staff at Burton have been so amazing and patient with us – it is a very different environment to what we are used to back at the Midwifery Led Unit. I’d just like to thank them – we really do admire the fantastic job that they do.”

Duncan Bedford surprised some of the team who were working on Ward 11 at Queen’s Hospital Burton with the award. He said: “I’m so proud of the work you have all done and the changes you have had to make to provide the care for our women and their families. It can’t have been easy, you’ve done an excellent job and I am so thankful to each and every one of you.”

If you know a UHDB member of staff or team who should be recognised for their exceptional work, you can nominate them for a monthly Making a Difference Award by emailing uhdb.employeeawards@nhs.net.​

The fantastic flexibility and sheer commitment of our UHDB Theatres teams throughout Covid-19 have been recognised with a UHDB award.

Colleagues from across the teams have really gone the extra mile in recent months to support our response to the pandemic by switching their rotas and being redeployed to often more high risk areas, such as Intensive Care. 

The last few months have also seen us completely change the way we use theatres, with these areas instead being used to provide some vital additional capacity to treat patients with Covid-19, should the Trust need it.

This played an absolutely integral part of UHDB’s response to coronavirus, as it allowed the Trust to dramatically increase the numbers of mechanically-ventilated beds available, which rose from 22 to 129 across Royal Derby Hospital and Queen’s Hospital Burton.

Our patients have been the ones to benefit from this, so it was only right then that the Theatres teams across our hospitals were both presented with a Team UHDB Making a Difference Award.

Gavin Boyle, Chief Executive, said: “I’ve worked in the NHS for around 30 years and I’ve never seen anything like what we’ve experienced in recent months. This has been a massive challenge for our Theatres teams, who we have asked a lot of.

“It’s been an incredibly tough time for these colleagues, as we have completely changed the way that we use our theatres and have asked them to work in different ways. I have real admiration for them all and want the teams to know how much we appreciate everything that they’ve done for our patients.”