Making a Difference - Award Winners

Charge Nurse, Rob Bradley, has won our March 2021 Patient Hero Award for providing exceptional care to a patient with Autism & Sensory Processing Disorder. 

The dedicated nurse who works at Royal Derby Hospital was presented with the UHDB Patient Hero Award earlier last week after being nominated by Derbyshire Mum, Chloe.

Chloe visited the Royal Derby Hospital with her daughter Rose in February when she needed an MRI Scan under General Anaesthetic. Rob was their first point of contact and took it upon himself to make Rose’s stay in hospital as comfortable and positive as possible.

Chloe said: “Rose is diagnosed with Autism and a Sensory Processing Disorder which makes her very different to manage compared to other patients. Things take longer, her anxiety is high, strong smells, bright lights, loud noises can all leave her feeling distressed. Interaction from strangers is difficult, and she needs a lot of specialised care and consideration.

Rob recognised Rose’s condition immediately and identified the processes that needed adapting for Rose's visit to hospital. Rob sent the family a 'Traffic Light System' in the post, which gave them the opportunity to list all of the things really important to Rose, alongside things she disliked and liked.

Chloe said: “If there was an observation that needed to be taken and Rose began to get distressed, Rob would remove himself away from the situation and return with distractions. The way in which he communicated with Rose was fantastic. He had clearly put a lot of effort into learning how best to work with children of Rose's nature, and it's not often we experience that.

“Overall, Rob’s attentiveness reduced mine and Rose's anxiety and anguish around hospital visits. I felt humbled to finally meet someone that really cared about my daughter and her needs. He made me feel emotional, in a good sense, as it reminded me that people like Rob really do still exist in the medical profession. People that aren't just doing their job, but are going above and beyond to make the experience as positive as possible.”

When Rob received his award, he said: “I’m completely speechless, but so honoured. I am so lucky to work with such a fantastic team here on Sunflower Ward – we all work well together to help provide exceptional care for our patients.”

Upon finding out that her nomination had won Rob the UHDB Patient Hero award, Chloe said: “Rob truly deserves the recognition. We spoke about our experience with Rob publicly on our blog. So many other families came forward and spoke about how they too had had an incredible experience at Royal Derby Hospital.

“Rob made such a positive impact on Rose’s hospital experience. I hope this award brings a smile to Rob’s face. We will always remember Rob and his kindness.”

                                                                                                        

A patient who needed separate operations on both of her eyes in the space of three months has thanked the “amazing” Royal Derby Hospital Consultant who helped save her sight.

Mr Ravi Gandhewar, Consultant Ophthalmologist, and his team twice came to the rescue of the patient after her vision started to become seriously effected in one eye and then the other one too, shortly after. 

The first operation took place in December 2019, with the “petrified” patient thanking Mr Gandhewar for his professionalism and for helping to calm her down when, to her horror, macular holes and cataracts in her other eye meant that she again required surgery in March 2020 – just as the Covid-19 pandemic began.  

She said: “I couldn’t believe that it could happen so quickly but Mr Gandhewar fitted me in on lockdown day. They gave me an hour’s notice to get in; otherwise the operation would not have been able to have been done. I knew it had to be done, as my eye was in a very bad way. 

“Mr Gandhewar is an amazing doctor and has saved my sight twice. I give my life to him for everything he has done for me, especially under the circumstances we were under.” 

Mr Gandhewar, who has worked at UHDB for 11 years and is based at both RDH’s Kings Treatment Centre and Ilkeston Community Hospital, was this week presented with this month’s Patient Hero Award, in recognition of the fantastic commitment shown to his patients.           

He said: “It’s a pleasure and really nice to see that the patient took the time to nominate me for this award. It’s really appreciated but this is for the whole team, not just for me. This is a reflection of the fantastic work of my whole team and is such a pleasant surprise. It’s really reassuring to hear this kind of positive feedback and it has reenergised us all to continue what we’re doing and to do a bit more.”

Dr Kathy McLean, UHDB Chair, virtually presented Mr Gandhewar with his well-deserved ‘Making a Difference Award’ over Microsoft Teams. 

She said: “It’s really heart-warming to hear that you had such a huge impact on this patient during their journey through our Trust. You’ve really made an impression there and have clearly looked after them extremely well, which I think is just fantastic. 

“This kind of feedback is always even better when it’s from a patient, so you should be very proud of yourself. I hope that this award will give a boost to both you and the rest of your team because I know that it’s been a tough time and you’ve all worked so hard.”

A Royal Derby Hospital Healthcare Assistant has been recognised for always going above and beyond and providing excellent care and support to patients throughout the pandemic.

David Rady was nominated by multiple colleagues, patients and relatives for his compassion and kindness towards his patients. One nomination read: “David is a lovely bloke. He delivered some clean pyjamas and toiletries into the hospital for my relative when no visitors were allowed. He goes above and beyond to help people feel special - such a caring person.”

David was also nominated by a patient who had a long stay in ICU before being cared for by David. The patient’s relative said: “David looked after my dad whilst he had Covid-19. My dad still talks about him until this day. My dad was in ICU for 3 months and David made such an effort with him, he even stayed late one time after his shift to ensure he felt comfortable and rested. When my dad was discharged after his long stay, David bought him a beautiful cake to celebrate him being able to come home. He is a lovely bloke had a lot of time for us.”

David received his UHDB Excellent Employee Making a Difference award surrounded by some of his colleagues towards the end of one of his night shifts on Ward 402. David said, “It’s been a difficult year for his all, but I am glad that I have been able to make a difference and support my patients throughout these trying times.

“This award is also a massive thanks to my team on Ward 402. Without the team I couldn’t of got through the last 12 months without them, they’re an amazing team and I am honoured to be a part of it.”

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 Emergency Department Worker at Royal Derby Hospital has been recognised for showing the importance of speaking up and showing the world there is no place for racism.

A tweet raised by Staff Nurse, Aldarico Velasco, after experiencing horrific racial abuse from a patient he was caring for, read:

His powerful tweet received more than 300,000 likes, with thousands of people getting in touch with messages of support from all across the world.

Gavin Boyle, Chief Executive at UHDB, awarded Aldarico with his monthly Making a Difference Chief Executive Award. Gavin said: “I wanted to present you with this to thank you for raising what is a really important issue. No colleague here at UHDB should be subject to racial abuse. If we just let it go by, then nothing will ever change.

“What I thought was great about your tweet and the response that it got right around the world is that everybody was touched by your philosophical response to what had happened. I think the fact that you courageously drew attention to to what had happened has been really helpful within the Trust and helped us to make everyone aware that there is no place for racism at UHDB.”
 

Aldarico, who is originally from the Philippines, said, “I’d like to thank my colleagues who supported me. When I got home after the incident, I was alone in my flat so there was no one to speak to in person about what had happened – that’s where the virtual world of twitter helped to support me! The responses I received, many from people I have never met before, made my Filipino heart very happy.

“My parents live back in the Philippines, I haven’t told them about what happened at work – it will upset them and they will want me to go back home to them."

Our staff dedicate their lives to helping people and continue to go above and beyond to provide care to our communities as they have done so valiantly throughout the pandemic. They deserve to be treated with respect and to feel safe in their work environment.

If you face abuse, do not accept it. If you see a colleague being abused, do not ignore it.

Find out more about how to raise concerns at UHDB here > (intranet link)

A grateful grandaughter has thanked Ward 15 at Queen’s Hospital Burton for the compassionate end of life care they provided to their grandmother.

Bronwen Owens nominated the team after her Grandmother passed away at the beginning of January 2021. Bronwen’s grandmother was in hospital with Coronavirus, but sadly her body became too weak to fight the virus.

The granddaughter’s nomination for Ward 15 highlighted their excellent care and compassion. Bronwen said: “The staff on ward 15 showed my grandmother care and compassion and made sure that she was comfortable. They also showed kindness to all the family and despite the visiting restrictions allowed us to visit making sure we were safe to visit and safe whilst visiting. This meant that we were able to be with my gran when she passed away so she was not alone.
 

 

“The team also arranged for a priest to visit my grandmother by her bedside. Having a Catholic priest do the last rights for my Gran was very important to her and we are so grateful for all the team did to get that priest there.

“Being a nurse myself I really felt the team went above and beyond that night to make sure the priest attended and they made sure my grans final wishes were honoured. I cannot tell you how much that would have meant to her and how much it meant to the whole family. Thank you so much.”

Duncan Bedford, Executive Managing Director, Burton visited the team to present them with the Team UHDB Award to thank them for what they did for this patient.

Irma Jusic, Sister on Ward 15 said: “It has been incredibly hard working through the pandemic. There have been tough times but we have all pulled each other through. It is very rewarding to have our work recognised and we are extremely grateful for the lovely nomination and feedback.”

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.