Shortlist 2024

Leadership Impact Award

Sarah Jamieson

Since her appointment as Director of Midwifery in November 2021 Sarah has led the development of a bespoke cultural improvement plan enabling her to develop a supportive team who share her vision and passion. Sarah has focussed on developing the workforce through recruitment and retention;  improving safety by developing better governance processes and improving culture and utilised quality improvement methodologies to address the significant challenges facing the Maternity Service. 

Through her outstanding leadership the service has increased its workforce and reduced its staff turnover. She also has a 100% retention rate for all newly qualified midwives recruited. is extraordinary given the backdrop of a national picture of poor retention and increased vacancy levels across many midwifery services. 
The service in 2021 was struggling with delays in induction of labour (IOL) with many women waiting longer than they should to commence their induction.  A significant programme of work has delivered significant improvements meaning that over 95% of women are now consistently receiving their IOL within guidance and in the appropriate timeframe.

Sarah leads with care and compassion and in a national context of midwifery vacancies and discord she has created an environment where her team are thriving, and people are seeking employment here at UHNM based on the positive culture and reputation she has created. Sarah has created an environment where staff feel able to safely challenge and are supported to drive improvements that they believe will improve patient outcomes and experience, and staff experience. Sarah and her team are incredibly ambitious and are striving to provide outstanding services to our population and be the best maternity service in the country, and are already working on a new improvement  plan, which has 55 actions, to further improve the service. 

Dr Diane Adamson 

Since coming into post at Divisional Medical Director for Women’s Children’s and Clinical Support services one year ago Dr Diane Adamson has had a significant, positive impact.  She consistently demonstrates all of the Trust values; bringing all of the teams together divisionally and leading by example.  

Dr Di is not afraid to make difficult decisions in the interests of patient safety and while doing this shows great support for individuals and teams, often brightening the day for many.  Dr Di has a level of compassion that is second to none, taking time to support both team members and staff alike.  She has has worked tirelessly with the maternity, neonatal and gynaelogical medical teams to ensure our patients receive the best care; has led our staff engagement efforts with the introduction of our divisional mascot Scrumpy, the Shetland pony, utilising annual leave to take him to many teams.

Dr Di flies the flag for our division, sharing the great work that is undertaken by many and is an incredible support to the divisional team. She is fair, funny and a great colleague to work with.  She is truly inspirational with a long and successful senior leadership career ahead of her.    
 

Ruth Bednall

Ruth Bednall has taken a consultancy firm-based improvement package and adapted it by leaning on its underpinning true lean philosophy (tools, routines and behaviours) to inspire an organisation to strive to sustain it as the habitual way we do things at UHNM. 
She has built the Quality Improvement (QI) Academy team and Improving Together methodology from nothing but two empty rooms, a phone and a collection of individuals passionate about putting quality of care at the heart of service delivery and making a difference to both patient and employee experience at UHNM. 

She embodies the UHNM values and the QI leadership behaviours in all that she does with the QI team and wider teams she comes into contact with. Ruth strives to live the philosophy and be honest, credible and realistic about the benefits and challenges that this brings across the organisation. Ruth does not ask anything of her team that she is not willing to do herself and has become an approachable QI subject matter expert for individuals across the organisation from executives to the estates team, porters, discharge facilitators or nurse fellows. 

Ruth engages everyone in the quality improvement journey whether that be one of inspiration, anxiety, or threat. By meeting them where they are at and understanding their journey she creates a psychologically safe, inclusive environment for that person to work from their current place in the organisational change process towards a learning and improvement culture. 

Ruth is passionate about all our UHNM colleagues being able to use the Improving Together methodology to see how their work aligns to the strategic priority domains and how their work matters to the organisation. She champions how we can achieve our vision of delivering exceptional care with exceptional people. If everyone is able to reduce waste and variation though the Improving together tools, routines and behaviours, use data to make decisions and test potential improvements - UHNM will become a truly great place to work. 

Clinical Team of The Year

Older Adults Diversional Therapists Pilot

The Diversional Therapist team have been pivotal in providing an environment for patients whereby activities are at hand to promote patient independence, enhance mobility and encourage and assist their recovery. They work alongside our nursing teams on our older adults inpatient wards to assist with planning and promoting patient activities to engage patients and encourage them to maintain mobility.  Activities are tailored on patient requirements and play an active role in ‘reconditioning patients', advocating the 'sit up, get dressed, keep moving' campaign with the overall aim to improve patient experience, maintain patient ability, promote independence and support a reduction in inpatient falls within older adults.

At UHNM during 2022 there were a total of 149 inpatient falls within our older adult wards and the aim of the pilot was to reduce these and importantly, reduce the level of harm if a patient should fall.
During the first three months of the pilot inpatient falls across the older adult’s wards has significantly reduced and diversional therapists have been recruited for all six older adult wards.

Patient and family feedback has been phenomenal with some patients saying how having the diversional therapy has made them ‘feel more confident in being able to go home’, ‘how good it felt to get off the ward whilst partaking in group activities’ and how they ‘felt great communicating with other people’. All the feedback we have received from patients shows us that the pilot is already improving patient experience, patients are more engaged, stimulated and motivated to maintain independence and avoid functional loss.

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implant (TAVI) Team

The heart centre is very proud of the TAVI service at UHNM.  The team has been instrumental in ensuring that access to this vital procedure is optimised for, not only, UHNM patients but also for patients on long waiting lists at other hospitals. 

The service has grown to be the third largest in the UK, anticipating 500 implants this year. The consultant team have invested in staff, providing opportunities for training and further development within this field. Their ability to use their expertise to adapt to, and incorporate the latest technology for the best patient outcomes is unwavering. They are strong advocates for their patients and are incredibly patient centred in their approach to service delivery, developing a one-stop clinic model to optimise patient experience for this often elderly cohort of patients. They are actively developing the service towards single point of access, same day discharge and treat and return for inter-hospital transfer. They go above and beyond to ensure that their patients are seen and taken care of, providing emergency access at weekends if needed.

North Virtual Ward

As a partner collaborative across the county of Staffordshire, Virtual Wards (VW) support patients who would otherwise be in hospital, to receive the acute care, remote monitoring, and treatment they need in their own home or usual place of residence. 
Virtual Wards  provide acute clinical care at home for a short duration as an alternative to care in hospital and between December 2023 and April 2024, the North Virtual Ward team gave 449 ‘acutely ill’ patients care from home. By keeping these patients at home and streaming them away from hospital, there has been an average saving of £117,791 per month. This is the equivilant of approximately 40, band 6 nurses. 
Feedback from external agencies involved with patients’ care demonstrates that there is a huge amount of collaborative support for patients who wish to remain independent at home for as long as possible. Reviews and family satisfaction questionnaires continually demonstrate staff commitment to providing exceptional levels of patient care.

Non Clinical Team of The Year

Medical Staffing

The roles within the medical staffing department require flexibility, multitasking and adapting well to change. The team work together and can be relied upon to manage their own work load. There a various obstacles which they face such as the junior doctor August rotation, incoming sicknesses and rota gaps. They always manage to find appropriate solutions using a professional and positive approachable attitude to internal and external bodies.

The team are always looking for ways to improve and develop current talent by promoting apprenticeship programmes, NHS Employer update workshops and other training courses such as Silver Connects management course. 

The Medical Staffing Officers (MSO), Rota Coordinators (RC) and Admin Bank have regular huddles which create a open space to discuss any changes, issues and show appreciation for all the hard work. The MSO team have created standard operating procedures and training videos for new processes or any changes within the team such as the doctor bank processes for hiring external doctors. This helps to explain the new processes to the internal team along with any new starters. 

The RC team have recently started to use a daily excel planner to help monitor the busy workload effectively and have also created a training programme for new starters which helps to monitor rota gaps and provides better patient care experience, exceptional performance and service delivery. 

The Admin Bank role has helped external candidates to secure permanent and fixed term posts within the trust which was a newly created role by the managers and has reduced the amount of vacancies in the trust.

All members of the team are extremely supportive. Everyone demonstrates effective team working skills by covering internal sicknesses and delegating workload effectively and the team’s opinions and feedback are always valued by the managers. 

Patient Catering Team

The Royal Stoke catering team is a consistent and hard working team that supports our patients at UHNM. This has been no different in the last 12 months and has been the most successful year yet - given the vast challenges across the UK in terms of food provision and the UK supply chain. The team’s ability to be agile to the supply chain challenges has meant little disruption to patients through unprecedented times and have come through this as a stronger team and also have a better offer for patients.

During supply issues the team worked through problems quickly to drive a positive change and ensure that the service we offered was unwavering. Due to the team’s organisation, teamwork and dedication to patients, the service continued with little  impact and a seamless transition to the new supplier was organised effectively. The team was extremely well led by management and were supported vastly by Trust contract performance teams and dieticians, showing great collaborative working and the power of working as one team. 

While the issues were unavoidable the team worked well together showing the values of the Trust, putting patient safety first and having a collaborative approach to leadership during a testing period. Throughout this, service was paramount and other changes were planned in to the catering operation to make positive changes that supports patient experience. The team looked to the future and aimed to bring further stability to the service by delivering a management of change to ensure staff had working patterns that support their well being and work life balance. Their approach throughout has been fantastic.

Trauma & Orthopaedic Management and Administration Teams

The Trauma & Orthopaedic management and administration teams were nominated for their consistent and dedicated approach to addressing the elective recovery program.  

Every team member has been crucial to the success of the elective recovery program and reducing the waiting times for patients within the trauma directorate. Each level of the team has demonstrated resilience, determination and positive values and behaviours to tackle the waiting list problem.  The management team have been able to discuss and identify better ways of managing patient waiting lists internally, developing a detailed directorate PTL, to ensure that appropriate escalations to other directorates are identified as quickly as possible and ensure patients are managed on their pathway appropriately.  

The operational service managers have worked closely with the administration teams and although challenging and frustrating at times, the secretaries have been very positive in managing patients to meet the requirements of NHS England Tier 1, Getting it Right First Time and the Trust.    

With the drive to achieve and demonstration in the reduction of the waiting lists, the directorate has been able to provide positive assurances both divisionally and corporately that the waiting list size is being addressed and managed effectively. 

Rising Star:  Clinical

Cosmina Schiteanu

Cosmina has demonstrated her passion for the specialty of endocrinology having taken up the nurse specialty role at UHNM in 2022, previously working on our general medicine wards at UHNM. 
She has played a key role in the inception and development of the Richard Clayton Endocrine Unit at Royal Stoke and has consistently gone above and beyond for the sake of our patients. The quality and efficiency of the service she has provided had been very conspicuous with significant and seismic reduction in waiting list backlog for various dynamic endocrine investigations that were pending. 

Within the directorate, Cosmina has facilitated inter-specialty work by networking with our renal team in enabling saline loading tests to happen swiftly; has demonstrated clinical acumen after she astutely diagnosing a patient with Cushing’s disease when they attended for routine investigations for hypertension management and through innovative ways of working Cosmina has been instrumental in developing nurse led Cinacalcet clinics, that has reduced the need for more than 400 consultant clinic appointments in the last year.

In conjunction, Cosmina has been progressing well academically, completing various modules with learning outcomes that have enhanced her clinical skills benefitting our local population attending for endocrine investigations. She has always gone the extra mile regionally and nationally putting UHNM NHS Trust on the map of the speciality internationally, raising the profile of UHNM.

Fiona Fraser, Senior Dental Nurse

Since she joined UHNM it was obvious that Fiona was passionate about providing the very best of care to patients. Her real interest lies in the support of our orthognathic patients. These young adults, aged between 17 and 30, have significant facial deformity that requires a combined orthodontic and surgical approach. On average their treatment time is between three and four years and they see attend appoitnments every four to six weeks.

When Fiona took over as Lead Nurse for orthognathic patients, to cover a maternity leave, she began to transform the way patients were supported through this journey, realising there were areas that we could improve and through listening and discussion with patients, used her own initiative to bring about simple changes in our service.  

Fiona almost always finds the time (often during her lunch hour or after work) to visit our orthognathic patients on the ward, and with the support and help from Sister and Matron, has introduced a number of changes to improve the in-patient stay. Fiona shows a great deal of respect and value for the opinion of other people and teams, and realises that sometimes a practical, rather than perfect, solution is often necessary.  

She’s introduced care packs for in-patients and recommends patients purchase cooling packs from Amazon, prior to admission to hospital. She meets regularly with Ward Sister, Mandy, to improve communication between out-patients and in-patients and as such has fostered and strengthened relationships between the clinical teams. Fiona has introuced ‘Buddy System’ where patients can keep intouch with each other and the support group has been a real gamechanger for the service.  The buddy system has also been copied in other orthodontic units around the country. 

Fiona listens to patients. She continues to work together with them, and the clinicians in the department, to improve the way we care for our patients.  Her vision is more modern than most NHS initiatives, and it continues to grow. She is constantly thinking about new ideas and actively drives change. Both patients and parents/partners comment on Fiona’s overwhelming support and compassion. They trust her. They respect her. They laugh (and occasionally cry) with her. They value her care enormously. Her enthusiasm and drive is infectious…and as a result raises the quality of care that we all provide for patients. Junior nurses are now emulating the work she has done in other areas of our clinical work. She deserves to win this UHNM award for keeping patients, the department and UHNM, smiling. 

Dr Fiona Halton

Dr Halton started her career at UHNM as a Keele medical student, then worked at UHNM throughout different stages of her training from Foundation Doctor through her Specilaist Registrar training and finally joining UHNM as a Consultant during the pandemic. She has hit the ground running.

On appointment Dr Halton reviewed the  ERS Advice and Guidance which had been running on an ad hoc basis. She reviewed the whole system and developed a rota of consultants to respond to queries from primary care, and worked to ensure the system is safe and responsive, developing standard ways of working and agreed responsibilities.

Now many visits to our outpatients are avoided and patients receive care or investigations quickly. Feedback from GPs has been positive, particularly regarding the speed of response. She has met with local GPs face to face and gained feedback on how to improve the system further. 

Dr Halton is responsive; she listened to her colleagues who felt that often the same or similar questions were being posed from primary care. She created the Advice and Guidance online "book" which answers can be modelled from and individualised.
Dr Halton acts for positive change when she identifies a need, for example, she has started a "de-labelling" process for children who are suspected to have been inappropriately labelled "penicillin allergic" with a safe and clear pathway to ensure that children have access to penicillin when needed once true allergy has been excluded. 

Dr Halton is now moving on to improve pathways for children with difficult eczema, which she is liaising with GPs, Health Harmonie (community dermatology provider) and the hospital dermatology service. She is an asset to UHNM and will continue to develop her leadership skills and be future fantastic medical leader. 

Rising Star:  Non Clinical

 
Rebecca Morton-Hand

Rebecca is the only female security officer working within the security team at the Royal Stoke and plays a vital role in ensuring the safety and security of patients, staff, and visitors.

Her role primarily focuses on patrolling the hospital premises, maintaining a visible presence in the Emergency Department, monitoring CCTV cameras and responding to all security related incidents.

Rebecca's outstanding achievements have been noticed by both the management at Sodexo and by colleagues across Royal Stoke. In fact, she has received three NHS value awards this year, highlighting her exceptional contributions to the hospital's security and well-being.  Rebecca has also been recognised nationally by being shortlisted in the ‘Outstanding Female Security Professional’ category at the Outstanding Security Performance Awards earlier this year.

Rebecca's contributions extend beyond her dedication, professionalism and exceptional response to incidents. She is known for her reliability, professionalism, and willingness to go above and beyond in her role. It is not uncommon for nursing staff to ask if the female officer can be sent when requesting security, and this includes incidences involving aggressive males.   

Rebecca is a true role model within the security team driving performance through her ability to train not only new starters, but by also inspiring long serving officers through innovative training. It's not just Rebecca's knowledge, skills and work ethics that have played a significant role in her ability to excel, but also her exceptional communication skills. Skills that have allowed her to build strong relationships with key stakeholders, such as, clinical staff and non-clinical staff at all levels, and external agencies especially the local police. 

Rebecca is a true inspiration in her role as a security officer in a highly active environment. Her accomplishments and unwavering dedication serve as a testament to the fact that gender should never hinder success in the security sector. Without a doubt, her remarkable contributions make her an excellent candidate for the Non-Clinical Rising Star award.

Stephen Hodson

Stephen has been instrumental in the development of business intelligence report requirements that offer huge benefits across the Trust including the safeguarding report and ReSPECT report/ dashboards. These reports allow the specialist teams to review if any patients are in the Trust for a timely visit/review.

Additional reporting/ dashboards are from the Ward Information System (WIS) with reporting information that is beneficial for our ward staff, command team and even NHS England. 

Each time Stephen has provided amazing quality work with the user’s requirements met. Nothing is ever too much trouble and he is always kind and supportive within his communication. Work is turned around quickly and to a great standard.

Each piece of work Stephen does improves the Trust and our understanding of our current situation. He is truly a non-clinical rising star and has a bright future.

Bradley Shufflebotham

Bradley was nominated after a successful six months working as an Assistant Manager within the Portering Service at Royal Stoke. Bradley has experience working across a range of services, including our frontline portering service and the Helpdesk giving him a wealth of knowledge which has stood him in good stead to be successful in management and grow his career within UHNM.

Bradley joined the team during a difficult time while the portering team were under pressure due to an increased amount of jobs and the volume of activity which challenged an already busy team with strike action and winter pressures in full force. The portering team went through a change in management which has brought better fortunes to the team which now has a bright future ahead of it. Bradley has been instrumental in some of the changes we have made and his ability to drive improvements forward will certainly help our patients with a more agile service in the years ahead.

Bradley has approached his role with an open mind and an eagerness to prove his ability, showing what hard work and dedication can bring in terms of results. He has built relationships from the start with his team members, his supervisor team, the frontline porters and also with the clinical teams. No matter what the challenge, Bradley steps up to face challenges head on.  By being approachable and putting patients first, he has built strong relationships with clinical leaders to find solutions to challenges and help support the flow of the hospital.

In his role, Bradley has been inspirational in his ability to manage change and ensure the Portering 

Rising Star: Apprentice 

Lauren Griffiths

Lauren has exhibited unwavering enthusiasm to her role within respiratory physiology, perfectly balancing her clinic work, with her education, demonstrating great organisational ability and timekeeping.
Her progress in her clinical skills and patient communication is evident in her blooming confidence and her ability to now work autonomously. She proactively contributes to reducing the departments diagnostic waiting list and is always willing to accommodate patients with short notice. Nonetheless, Lauren is always aware of her own limitations and puts her patients’ safety and comfort first at all times. 

Lauren often receives positive patient feedback from our departments feedback stand, with patients’ praising her calm, friendly and approachable nature. She instils the Trust values for together within our team of apprentices and is always happy to help a colleague.
Lauren has the potential to develop into an integral member of the respiratory physiology community.    

Nicola Russell

Nicola joined the organisational development team straight from the retail industry with no previous administration experience. Yet she brought with her a wealth of strong people skills that have proven invaluable in her roles as receptionist and administrator.

From day one Nicola has approached her work with enthusiasm and a thirst for learning, undertaking her NVQ in Business Administration alongside her responsibilities. Her potential was evident when she confidently supported the Trust-wide Being Kind events and engagement campaigns, showcasing her ability to adapt and excel in high-pressure situations.

Nicola's impact extends far beyond her administrative duties. Her calm, reassuring demeanour and professional presence have made her an indispensable member of our team. Whether interacting with colleagues, teams, contractors, or visitors, Nicola consistently delivers great work, with a smile, role modelling our values and leaving a positive impression.

Moreover, Nicola's positivity and generosity uplifts the OD team’s morale. Whether it's baking a cake for birthday celebrations or going the extra mile to assist her colleagues, she consistently demonstrates kindness and thoughtfulness in her actions.

Rachel Openshaw

Rachel joined the Trust as  an Assistant Healthcare Scientist in 2022, before moving in to an apprentice training program. She is working towards her level 6 qualifications to enable her to become a qualified healthcare scientist in cardiology. Despite having significant out of work pressures throughout her first year, Rachel has consistently modelled all the NHS values. She approaches her training with diligence, enthusiasm and commitment. Despite the challenges that she has faced, she has met all of the requirements of her course, achieving excellent grades and feedback. 

She is always smiling, works incredibly hard, consistently goes above and beyond for our patients, and has a very bright career ahead of her wherever it take her.

Service Improvement Award

John Hopkins Implementation Team and IM&T Development and Integration Team 

This multi-disciplinary team has worked together over the last year to introduce an activity and mobility programme to eight wards with plans to roll out phase two later in 2024. 

The importance of this initiative cannot be overstated. Research has shown that even short periods of immobility can have profound consequences on patient health, leading to muscle loss, functional decline, and increased risks of complications such as pressure ulcers, falls, delirium, aspiration, and pneumonia. By prioritising mobility as a core component of patient care, the Johns Hopkins App addresses these risks head-on, ultimately leading to improved outcomes and reduced healthcare burdens.

One of the key strengths of the Johns Hopkins App is its multidisciplinary approach. The IM&T Development and Integration Team collaborated closely with nursing, Allied Health Professionals (AHP), medical teams to ensure that the app meets the diverse needs of patients and healthcare providers alike. This collaborative effort underscores their commitment to fostering a culture of teamwork and excellence within the healthcare setting.

Therapy teams have supported the nursing staff with safe patient handling techniques and use of the tools.  Nursing teams and diversional therapists have support patients to achieve their mobility goals and in doing so have supported patients to remain independent and to prevent deconditioning. The CeNREE team is supporting with on going research into the use of the tool and the impact for patients. 
This is a true MDT collaboration that is positively impacting the care we deliver to our most vulnerable patient.

Neurosurgery - Skull Based Tumour Service

The need for a neuropsychology led prehabilitation and follow-up pathway for the Skull-Based Tumour Service was recognised by Mr Simon Shaw, Consultant Neurosurgeon, who has supported the services progression. 

This innovative approach to preoperative and postoperative care has significantly enhanced patient outcomes and revolutionised the standard of care for neurosurgical patients and their families. 

The prehabilitation service is a proactive systemic approach designed to psychologically and practically prepare patients for their stay in hospital and recovery, thereby improving resilience and recovery trajectory. Patients receive a postoperative inpatient early follow up, where the need for further support and onward referrals can be detected promptly aiding a more favourable outcome. Further follow ups are offered at six weeks, six months and 12 months providing continuity and support. Taking on board patient feedback with regards to information overload while in hospital a series fo educational leaflets have been produced to provide supporting information for patients and their families on how to manage post-surgical symptoms. 

Through a multidisciplinary approach involving neurosurgeons, clinical nurse specialists, neuropsychologists and where appropriate physio and occupational therapists the holistic needs of patients are addressed. The team’s enthusiasm and drive for excellence in patient care is infectious and harbours a supportive working environment. 

The prehabilitation and follow-up services exemplify excellence in neurosurgical care and embodies the trusts values and commitment to continuous improvement and patient centred care. 

Critical Care Unit

The Critical Care Unit has embarked on a journey to embed an effective safety culture within the service. This has direct impact to patients who receive care in the unit, as well as for staff involved in day-to-day delivery and are often in the forefront of experiencing risks that may occur. 

They have demonstrated continuous commitment and a structured approach, underlined by a more inclusive culture which promotes psychological safety. The Critical Care team are to be commended in their work which has demonstrated ongoing commitment to identifying and addressing adverse incidents. 

They have now begun to roll out frontline training of Improving Together which will enable teams to use Improving Together tools to standardise and structure current systems for effective learning and establishing a safe culture within the unit. This builds on previous work around Psychological Safety amongst teams. Since 2021, yearly questionnaires have kept track of progress and insights around this and is used to inform next steps. The unit has also been successful in securing funding from NHS England to support staff well-being. This has so far been used to well-being events for staff, as well as expanding on PDN capacity to better support the wider team in their learning and development. 

Being Kind and Compassionate Award

Claire Wright  

Claire is someone who never goes a day without putting other people first, she cares very much about her colleagues and especially patients. Her copmassion is a wonderful thing to witness and you can definitely tell the patients appreciate some reassurance and a friendly chat. She is thoughtful, kind, understanding and most of all a friend to every single person. Claire works in a department which with head and neck cancers and traumas and the majority of patients have to attend our department for dressing reviews which Claire does a lot of.  She ensures every patient is supported because a lot of the time patients feel low and definitely not themselves after a major surgery. 

Claire does not realise the impact she has with the team but she is a remarkable human at work and within her home life caring for her parents and family.

Her nomination is an opportunity to let Claire see how appreciated she is and for her to know her kindness is always picked up. She is a wonderful role model. 

Forget me Not Suite, Maternity Centre

Every person in the Forget me not Suite shows nothing but compassion, empathy, care and unity.  The staff on the suite deal with baby loss in many forms on a daily basis.  To them this is their job; to parents it is new and traumatic. The team are incredibly personable, genuine and caring and are able to judge the mood and adapt accordingly, be it from a gentle touch to show empathy, to kind words, to showing sympathy alongside parents.

The team are nominated in recognition of how hard their jobs are and how compassionate and kind each member is under such sad circumstances.  They make a terrible time more bearable making families fee comfortable and a priority.  

Sophie Storr

Sophie is a calming, considerate, kind and compassionate colleague and leader, who personifies all he Trust values.  She is focussed on being her best self and always strives for excellence in her work; and is constantly supporting colleagues within the People Directorate, other senior managers, teams and everyone she comes into contact with to be their best selves too.

She does this by providing a psychological safe workspace. She is respectful, listens to understand and as this way of being so ‘present’ with you that you trust her and open up, and share your concerns or troubles.  Sophie is a sincere, conscientious coach and through her relaxed style she manages to enable the people she interacts with to find their own solutions and way forward.

Although she doesn’t manage a team, Sophie's impact on the well-being of her colleagues is profound. She continuously checks in on their welfare, offers words of encouragement, gives recognition and provides a comforting presence during challenging times.

She is an impeccable leader, role model and asset to the People Leadership Team.  Furthermore, her inclusive leadership style ensures that everyone's voice is heard and valued. Her unwavering commitment to doing what is right is a testament to her integrity and moral compass.

Volunteer of The Year Award

Lachlan Matthews

Lachlan has worked as a volunteer within the children's oncology day unit for the past six months. He was a former patient more than 20 years ago as a toddler after being diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour.

He received intensive chemotherapy for his condition and came through the treatment with some hindering side effects but nothing that has stopped him from being an extremely determined young man, not letting things stand in his way and wanting to give something back.
Lachlan has also helped as a volunteer in the main Atrium of Royal Stoke. He was enthusiastic and talked of his time undergoing treatment all those years ago. He remembered the support he had received then and wanted to help.

Lachlan now helps in the busy oncology day unit, once a week, he chats to the families and gets for them, whatever they need.  He shows empathy to them and takes time out to help them in what ever way they need. 

Lachlan is always cheerful and extremely enthusiastic in his work. He has sourced information from his other role at Caudwell charity that has been used and helps to improve the service they get and is invaluable to families that we treat here in the day unit.

From making tea, getting activities for the children, sourcing toys, sorting out their lunches, ordering extra meals, preparing of these, general tidying, running errands and just sitting talking to the children and their families, makes such a difference not only to the families but to the staff working within the team. 

He works and communicates with the whole team and helps to make the environment a more homely place to be treated, which he says made a difference to him when he was being treated all those years ago. 

Lachlan has become a well loved member of the team in the oncology day unit here at the Royal Stoke. Despite his struggles Lachlan has turned into a lovely caring admirable young man and above all, deserves to be recognised for his sheer determination to give something back to a service that helped him all those years ago. 

Becky DeWet and Willow (Therapy Dog)

Rebecca works on ward 127 as a Therapy Tech. In her spare time she and her dog Willow come to the wards to bring smiles to the patients. They make such a difference and the patients faces are priceless. Becky and Willow don't realise what an impact they have and it’s all for the better. They brighten up not only the patients day but also staff, and in fact anyone who passes by. 

Willow is a Springer Spaniel and has been coming to the Trust as a therapy dog for 12 months and she catches the bus from County Hospital to travel to UHNM with her owner Becky.

Patients miss there own dogs when they are in hospital so Willow is always guaranteed a fuss and belly rub off our patients no matter how rubbish they are feeling in themselves. 
This nomination is to recognise and thank both Willow and Becky for their hard work, time and dedication.

Blythe Bridge High School Volunteers for Older Adults

Teacher Laura Pheasey and the Blythe Bridge High School children have been volunteering their time every two weeks since 2022 and plan activities with our patients for every session. The patients visit the seminar room in the West Building to participate with our diversional therapists.

The activities that have been planned have included arts and crafts, bingo, performing solos and duets singing/playing acoustic instruments and dancers have also performed for the patients. During their visit in January, they performed scenes from mary Poppns – the school musical they were performing at the time. 

The patients enjoy the children visiting and they also like being out of the environment of the ward. They really enjoy the performances and some of the patients have even got up and danced which has seen them reaching their re-conditioning goals. The visits make the patients really happy and emotional (happy tears). It also encourages the patients to engage not just with the children and the staff, but also with each other.

It cannot be underestimated the impact that Blythe Bridge High School visiting has on our patients. The whole Older Adults team look forward to their visits and this is something that we hope we continue for as long as they want to visit us.

Miss Stephanie Wilcock 

Mrs Angela Power