Radiotherapy team awarded team of the month

The Radiotherapy team at University Hospitals of North Midlands has been recognised for their team work and dedication to patients when a vital machine in their department broke down.

The team, based at Royal Stoke University Hospital were faced with potentially cancelling patient appointments when one of their Halcyon treatment machines broke down for three days. The radiotherapy machine uses carefully targeted high energy X-rays to treat patients with cancer, which is a high tech piece of kit the team use for every appointment.  

Working together, the team made a plan and changed their shift pattern to cover an extended day of appointments so they could fit the same amount of patients two machines would treat on to one machine and ensured the majority of appointments were not cancelled.

The extended hours helped to reschedule appointment times for patients, ensuring that everything ran as smoothly as possible, keeping morale high and patient’s spirits up despite the obstacle of having a machine breaking down. And now their efforts have been recognised by scooping the UHNM Team of the Month award.

Laura Skilbeck, Radiotherapy Advanced Practitioner, who nominated the team, said: "We are so happy with this award. I am really proud of my team and how well we have worked together and to be recognised. The team are amazing, we get on so well and all work as a team, looking after each other. It’s so nice to receive this recognition for what we have been doing and it nice to know we have done a good job."

Lorraine Whitehead, UHNM Director of Estates, Facilities and PFI, said: "I am absolutely thrilled to meet the team to present this award. It’s obvious from speaking and meeting the team that they are all fantastic. It’s always lovely when a team leader takes time out to recognise their staff having gone above and beyond.   On this occasion they made sure our patients were seen in a timely manner truly demonstrating our Trust values."