UHNM Facilities and Catering teams praised for 'patient-first approach'

The collaborative working and ‘patient-first approach’ of UHNM’s Facilities and Catering teams has been recognised with a Trust award.

The teams picked up December’s Team of the Month Award following a nomination by Lorraine Whitehead, Director of Estates, Facilities and PFI.

Lorraine said: “The collaborative working arrangements and patient-first approach across our Facilities, Catering and Sodexo Teams enabled us to continue to deliver seamless catering and cleaning services during challenging times.

“Our patient meal service at Royal Stoke was affected by unexpected events requiring a rapid change of supplier. A new service was launched and received much by way of positive praise from patients and staff alike for the high-quality, nutritious meals and the excellent service on offer. Significant challenges were overcome, with colleagues going above and beyond to minimise the impact across UHNM.

“Our County Hospital Catering Team has also recently been recognised at the highest level across the NHS with their patient meal services being described as ‘superb’ by the NHS National Lead Director for Patient Meal services. This wonderful accolade is testament to the skills and experience of our very talented County Catering Team.

“The delivery of our cleaning services across both sites have been changed to respond to the new NHS National Cleaning Standards. An extraordinary amount of work has been undertaken to understand the impact of the new standards and to deliver the actions needed to respond. This has resulted in increased clarity on cleaning frequencies and responsibilities, and a new cleanliness star rating system allowing all to see the fabulous standards of cleaning services provided at UHNM.”

The teams received their award at the recent annual UHNM Estates, Facilities and PFI Partnership Day.

After accepting the award, Jayne Cleary, Sodexo Patient Catering Manager to Royal Stoke said: “The past few months have been extremely challenging, as our main supplier closed the business earlier in the year. The team have been amazing in resolving issues quickly to ensure patient experience was not compromised. By working in partnership with UHNM colleagues, we have come through the other side stronger than ever before, with our much-improved menu from our new food supplier. We will continue to improve the service further, putting our patients first in everything we do.”

Speaking about the recently introduced five-star NHS Cleaning standards scheme, Angie Friend from Domestics at Royal Stoke said: “It makes me feel very proud that we’re doing our job to a high standard. We work well as a team and all the staff muck in together.”