Making a Difference - Award Winners

Royal Derby Hospital’s Out of Hours Team received the Team UHDB award for their remarkable work throughout the pandemic.

The nomination for the Hospital Out of Hours team commended their dedication to patient care and highlights their enormous effort to support patient care. She said: “The team are an invisible workforce keeping patients safe overnight.

“The pandemic had really impacted the team, the workload and acuity of patients is unprecedented. However, the team have shown positivity, resilience, integrity and adaptability, all working together with a shared goal of providing exceptional care to save lives.

“I am incredibly proud of the team and how they have conducted themselves in an exceptional manner.”

Magnus Harrison, Executive Medical Director, praised the team for their outstanding service to patients and presented the team with the UHDB Making a Difference Award to thank them for their efforts.

Lorraine O’Connor, Night Nurse Practitioner, said: “Since our new manager and clinical lead, Terri-Ann Walsh and Alice Mccomb, they’ve changed our team and supported us immensely for the last two years, especially through the pandemic.

“They’ve encouraged us to get our training and go onto ACP roles. They’ve been fundamental in how the team has changed, and I can’t thank them and the team enough.”

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 Gavin Boyle
• 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.

A community midwife whose intervention “potentially saved the life” of a patient who was 35 weeks pregnant has been presented with UHDB’s Monthly Making a Difference Award for May.

Julia Kirk, who works in the Coleman Team, was presented with the award by CEO Gavin Boyle with her colleagues present after a touching submission from a patient.

The patient described how Julia spotted her appearing breathless in the queue at her GP surgery and decided to refer the patient to the Pregnancy Assessment Unit at Royal Derby Hospital.

Further tests revealed that the patient had a pulmonary embolism, which occurs when a blood clot gets lodged in an artery in the lung, blocking blood flow to part of the lung.

The patient wrote: “I cannot thank Julia enough for potentially saving my life. She has been wonderful from the beginning and is someone who is clearly passionate about her job and conscientious in her care.”

Upon receiving the award, Julia said: “This is a wonderful surprise! I remember this patient well and when I saw her, I just knew that something wasn’t quite right.

“I must say though that this award is for the whole team too, as I know that all of my lovely colleagues would have done exactly the same if they were in my shoes.”

Gavin Boyle, CEO, said: “What Julia did was really important, so well done. Her timely intervention prevented what could have been a dire situation.”

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 Gavin Boyle
• 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.

An extremely grateful cancer patient has thanked the Combined Day Unit at Royal Derby Hospital for their unwavering support throughout the pandemic. 

The patient nominated the team for their outstanding care during his chemotherapy treatment even through the commotion of the pandemic.  

The patient’s nomination for the Combined Day Unit commended their dedication to patient experience to help aid the emotional wellbeing of those receiving cancer treatment. They said: "I am just over half way through chemotherapy and the team have been outstanding. I have really struggled at times with anxiety, fear and generally feeling out my depth.

“The team have always gone above and beyond to reassure and comfort me, making the process more bearable. I could not be more grateful. They are more than just nurses; they are therapists, a warming face, and a wealth of knowledge. I am so thankful for them especially in the current circumstances.”

Phil Bolton, Deputy Chief of Nursing Operations, visited the team to present them with the UHDB Making a Difference Award to thank them for their service to this patient.

Eleanor Stokes, Sister on the Combined Day Unit, said: “It feels lovely to be recognised by a patient who we care for, and it’s a really nice surprise to win the 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 Gavin Boyle
• 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.

A Royal Derby Hospital Nurse working on our Medical Assessment Unit has been praised by colleagues for the work she does to support the Filipino Overseas Nurses when starting at the Trust.

Minnie Inacay, Sister, was nominated by one of her colleagues to receive the UHDB Excellent Employee Award, after supporting them when they first arrived in the UK from the Philippines.

The nomination read: “When I arrived here in UK and joined MAU, I was so nervous as I didn't know anyone on the ward. When I met Minnie, she made me feel so welcome and looked after all of the Filipino overseas nurses. She always goes above and beyond even outside work hours.

“She opened up her house for us, and provides breakfast, lunch and dinner there. Due to covid restrictions, we can't currently go to her house, she now brings pre-packed food which she will cook and bring to work for us.

“Minnie and her husband, Geoffrey, who also works at the Trust, always make us feel so uplifted. One of the traits that she has instilled to us is to "be kind to everybody no matter how they treat you as everybody is going through something that we may not know". And this always helps us get through every shift.”

“Being away from family and working in a new environment can be extremely daunting but Minnie makes it easier for us. We have not only found a colleague in her but found a family - a mother who we can lean on.”

Minnie was presented with her award after finishing her nightshift in the early hours of the morning. She said, “This is such a lovely surprise, I am so speechless – I can’t believe it!”

Executive Chief Nurse, Cathy Winfield, said: “Thank you for going above and beyond to help our overseas colleagues settle in and move forward with their careers on MAU. You’ve been a huge support to them and that’s helped give them a sense of belonging within this country and at our Trust. You do a huge amount and we can’t congratulate you enough for that – carry on doing what you are doing – you are brilliant!”  

Senior Sister for Medical Assessment Unit, Sarah Guy, said: “I am proud to say MAU have almost 100% retention of overseas nurses since 2018 and Minnie plays a massive part in the reason why they have stayed – she is absolutely fantastic and this award is very well deserved.”

Well done Minnie, thank you for everything you do for Team UHDB!

A Royal Derby Hospital nurse has been labelled “a credit to the Intensive Care Unit” for the support she’s shown to a patient and his family since being redeployed back “home” to the department during the pandemic. 

Registered Nurse Suzie Parsons was nominated by one of her colleagues to receive a UHBD Making a Difference Award, as a small thank you for helping make their husband’s near 100-day stay in hospital “a little easier”.

Suzie has gone out of her way to keep the whole family up to date through each step of their loved one’s time in hospital, while providing fantastic care to the patient, who has spent an extended period in ICU recovering from a stroke.

The nomination read: “As a nurse myself and someone who works in the Trust, I have found the support from Suzie truly amazing. She has gone above and beyond in her role, not only supporting my husband who is still in ICU after having a stroke, but also the children and me.

“After being told that there was no option and that he would need to be put on a ventilator, he has made amazing progression since and is now doing things that even three weeks ago were not thought to be possible. We know he is on a long road to recovery but Suzie has made this time a little easier by giving me up to date information and looking after me, my husband and the whole family. She is truly a credit to ICU and the hospital in general.”

We were delighted to this week award Suzie with an Excellent Employee Award, to recognise the huge difference she’s made to this patient and his family.

Suzie said: “To me, this is my job and passion, and I come in because I want to care for patients while they’re in hospital, not to be given any thanks. When you do get it though, it is amazing. It’s so lovely because I genuinely didn’t expect it. I’ve cared for this patient for so long now, so it made me cry when I read the nomination!”

Presenting Suzie with her award, Cathy Winfield, Executive Chief Nurse at UHDB, said: “The family have said that this patient has made amazing progress under your care and while he still has a long road to recovery, you have made it all a little bit easier for them, which is great to hear. Thank you for everything that you do. I think it is really difficult to put it into words how thankful we are because it is so heartfelt, but we hugely appreciate everything you and your team are doing.”

After spending the last 16 years working in Theatres in our Recovery team, where she was senior sister, Suzie agreed to be redeployed to our ICU team at RDH in March 2020, and then once again in November 2020, during the peak of Covid-19.

Having originally worked as a nurse in ICU at the former Derbyshire Royal Infirmary more than 20 years ago, Suzie made the decision to make the switch back permanently following her second redeployment.

She added: “Returning to ICU has very much felt like coming home. I felt that I wanted to come back after my first redeployment but wasn’t sure if that was just because of the excitement and adrenaline of working here during Covid. But when I came back the second time, I really remembered what ICU was all about and how much I enjoy it.”