Burton's Discharge Team presented with Team UHDB award for going above and beyond for patient and their dog
The team at Queen’s Hospital Burton’s Discharge Assessment Unit (DAU) has been recognised for going above and beyond to help care for a patient’s dog while they were admitted to hospital in recent weeks.
The patient had been admitted to hospital on several occasions in recent weeks, meaning their dog had been left alone at home. After discovering this, several members of the team offered to help in their own time to check on the dog, ensuring it had food and water and was comfortable. In addition to this, the team also helped the patient by doing their shopping for them to make sure they had everything they needed once they were discharged.
Duncan Bedford, Executive Managing Director at UHDB, presented the team with Team UHDB Monthly Making a Difference Award – something which he said “made his day”.
He said: “It is always a privilege for me to present these awards, and that’s no different this time – it’s really great to be able to present you with this award. It demonstrates how all our staff go above and beyond to see how they can help people.
“I was delighted to read your nomination and it really made me smile and made my day. Acts like this make a massive difference to patients in our hospitals, so it’s a massive thank you from me.”
Tracey Jones, Discharge Liaison Nurse at Queen’s Hospital Burton, helped to care for the dog and go shopping for the patients along with colleagues Michelle Gregory-Frost and Lorna Cullen.
With the help of Discharge Facilitator at Samuel Johnson Community Hospital, Donna Holmes, the team were also able to find a foster home for the dog should the patient require further, more prolonged stays in hospital.
“The dog is doing really well now, you wouldn’t believe it’s the same animal. He’s really come out of his shell. He is now living with his foster family permanently with the blessing of his former owner who gets lots of key updates which is lovely.”
Carl Dutton, Senior Charge Nurse on DAU, said that he is incredibly proud of his team for going above the call of duty to help the patient and their dog: “People don’t realise that it’s not just a case of finishing your shift and going home for the day when our colleagues do things like this. These people have gone above and beyond and it’s absolutely amazing to see.”
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 Chief Executive
- 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.