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Accolades for NHS top stars

Stars from the NHS have been recognised in a local health trust’s annual staff awards.

Staff, volunteers and peer support workers from Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH) who have gone above and beyond in their roles were recognised in a glitzy awards ceremony at Doncaster’s racecourse on Friday 22 November.

Toby Lewis, Chief Executive, said: “It is fantastic to honour staff, students and volunteers. We received more than 340 nominations for this year’s 16 awards. The patients, governors and Trust leaders who have helped judge had a wonderfully difficult task making their choices. The NHS at its best can make a huge contribution to people’s lives within our communities, and those who have won these awards certainly do just that in teams across Rotherham, Doncaster and North Lincolnshire.”

The gold winners were:

Nurturing the power in our communities exemplar

Lyndsey Leebetter, With Me In Mind (Children’s mental health team), North Lincolnshire

Lyndsey and her With Me In Mind team have successfully engaged young people in the recruitment of the staff. Young people fed back that they felt heard and that they could use their voice.

Living our values award

The race, ethnicity and cultural heritage (REaCH) staff network, Rotherham, Doncaster and North Lincolnshire

This staff network has enabled people to feel safe and supported during a very difficult time during the recent race riots. The network demonstrated the trust’s values of caring, open and supportive in its work and truly lived the trust’s values.

Volunteer of the year

Helen Ward, Equality, diversity and inclusion and organisational development, Doncaster

Helen has volunteered with the trust for many years and is a valued member of the team. She is currently supporting our work on our promises and her commitment is second to none.

Equity diversity and inclusion champion

Selina Khunkhuna, Talking Therapies, Rotherham, Doncaster and North Lincolnshire

Selina has developed pathways to improve access for those patients who are under-served, including minority groups. The clinicians now feel empowered to develop the service in innovative ways to improve inclusion.

Peer support worker of the year

Antony Hudson, Child and adolescent mental health service, Rotherham

Antony supports young people with their mental health to overcome barriers. Young people feedback that Tony helps them access services in a meaningful way and identify ways to improve the service

Chair’s rising star award

Kathryn Bebb, Matron, Community and long term conditions, Doncaster

Kathryn has made a huge contribution to our communities, making huge strides in bridging the gap between our services and minority groups, and building relationships with Gypsy Roma Traveller communities.

Research and innovation award

Health Visiting and School Nursing teams, North Lincolnshire and Doncaster

The teams are leading, participating and delivering research in an under-represented area of research nationally. This involved the surviving crying study and the school nursing community based behavioural activation training for depression in adults.

Learning and education award

Dr Gemma Graham, Older people’s mental health, Rotherham

Gemma’s multiple publications into the mental health of older people and work on a national stage is testament to her passion and dedication. Her work internally and externally enables the learning and education of others leading to improved care.

Quality and safety award

Dr Kanmani Balaji, Learning Disabilities team, North Lincolnshire

Dr Balaji has set up a pathway for people with a learning disability who are over medicated. This has led to the successful reduction in medications that are unnecessarily prescribed, leading to a better quality of life for patients.

Equity and inclusion award

Viral Hepatitis team, Doncaster

The team has almost reached the point of micro elimination for Hepatitis C in Doncaster. They are internationally acclaimed for this approach in meeting this target, particularly with hard to reach groups.

Leader of the year

Tracey Wheeler, Foot Protection team, Doncaster

Tracey is a caring and passionate leader. She works hard to ensure that podiatry is integral to RDaSH services, drives improvement and supports her team, including recent international recruits and apprentices.

Team of the year

Children’s Clinical Care Parent Infant Emotional Wellbeing team, North Lincolnshire

This team works with families in a child’s first 1000 days to promote sensitive, attuned and responsive caregiving. This helps parents, often with a mental illness themselves, better understand the thoughts and feelings of their babies.

Team of the year

Adult clinical care memory service, Rotherham

The service has achieved excellent results in reducing waiting times from 16 weeks to four, enabling them to better deliver timely assessment and diagnosis to patients. This led to them being asked to share their practice with NHS England during a recent visit.

Backbone team of the year

Information Systems (web) Development, Communications, Change and Improvement teams, Rotherham, Doncaster and North Lincolnshire

This team has worked to develop a new trust website which is easy to use and understand and meets the legal accessibility standards. This involves engaging with communities and providing translation of the website into the top eight spoken languages across our footprint.

Colleague of the year, backbone

Enioluwada Oluwajob, Children’s engagement and participation, North Lincolnshire, Rotherham and Doncaster

The scope of work Enioluwada has produced is vast and has allowed the trust to better engage with young people, families and professionals on a level not done before. She has improved the overall reach into our harder to reach communities.

Colleague of the year, clinical

Angela Dunnachie, Speech and Language Therapy team, North Lincolnshire

Angela makes the impossible possible for people with learning disabilities. Her work on the videopholoscopy pathway has reduced waiting times and identifies dysphasia earlier. Angela brings great energy to the team.

Toby added: “I also want to thank our sponsors of the night, they are Fleet Solutions, Micro Alarms Ltd, Exclusive Secure Care Services, Minimising and Managing Violence and Aggression, RJ Electrical and Security Ltd, the People Focussed Group and Your Hearts and Minds charity. Without them our event could not have happened.”

Published: November 29, 2024

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