On Friday 6 August, we celebrated the latest winners of our NBT Hero Awards. Simon Wood, Director of Estates, Facilities and Capital Planning lead the awards, which were full of virtual applause and lots of lovely messages from one hero to another, as the nominations were read out.
Whether it's for inspiring leadership, supporting our communities, or simply cracking a joke to help a patient feel at ease before their appointment. Our Heroes are nominated for making a difference, whether it be big or small. It's often something that our Heroes may not even recognise they do, but it means a great deal to someone else.
Take a look below to see selfies of some of our lovely winners, and details about why they were nominated!
Gemma Lucas-Phelps (Medirooms Administrator )
nominated by Honeylyn Sarao (Mediroom Manager and Clinical Practice Facilitator)
I've known and worked with Gemma since we moved into the Brunel Building. She has always been approachable and very helpful to everyone. Gemma is very skilled and knowledgeable with her role and is always my "go-to" person for any HR/administrative related queries. Being new to my role as a manager, she has guided me with her fountain of knowledge. It's safe to say that I would be lost without her. She is very dependable, highly organised, very detailed in her work and always remains calm and collected. Her work ethic is second to none. I believe she deserves this award, not only as a hero to me but to the rest of the Mediroom team! Go Gemma!
Angel Goldstrom (Associate Site Nurse Practitioner)
nominated by Suzanne Crew (Site Nurse Practitioner)
Angel joined the Hospital at Night team over a year ago, and in this time she has proved herself to not only be an absolute Angel, but also a hero to all of us. She works tirelessly, and nothing is too much trouble for her. She is always happy and smiling and makes coming to work an absolute joy. She provides care and compassion not only to her patients but to all the staff on the wards, as well as to those within the hospital at night team. Throughout these recently troubled times, she has put her fears for her extended family to the back of her mind - while showing a calm and professional manner at all times. Angel is a bright light in the darkness and thoroughly deserves to be an NBT hero.
Maria Langdon (Transplant Specialist Nurse)
nominated by Sara Perkins (Renal and Transplant Specialist Pharmacist
Maria, like all of our transplant specialist nurses, regularly goes the extra mile and is a fundamental part of our renal & transplant team. The nature of our patient group is that they become very well known to us and form strong relationships with the renal team. One such patient has been under our care since 2005, undergoing treatment both with dialysis and transplantation. Maria has known and cared for both the patient and their family throughout this and is a key member of their support. Sadly, the patient was approaching the end of their life as an inpatient. Despite being largely outpatient-based, Maria spent considerable time with both the patient and their family to provide immense support. Maria came into the ward on her day off to sit with her patient, to provide immeasurable comfort, psychological and emotional support. Our nursing team were overwhelmingly grateful for this added level of exceptional one-to-one care. Maria's intuitive and deeply personal care allowed the patient to pass away in comfort and with dignity, with people who cared for them, despite their family not being able to be there in person. She truly embodies "exceptional healthcare, personally delivered" and it is a privilege to work alongside her.
Kerry Grant (Lead Biomedical Scientist – Point of Care Testing)
nominated by Paul Thomas (Consultant Clinical Scientist)
I would like to nominate Kerry for all the hard work she has put in over the last year to support the Point of Care service during the COVID-19 pandemic. This started with meeting the training needs of additional staff for the Nightingale Hospital Bristol and supporting the rollout of equipment. She has also been instrumental in the evaluation of point of care COVID testing equipment, ensuring that the performance meets the clinical requirements for the test. She has bounced back when analysers have not proved to be suitable to look at the next one. At the same time, she has progressed other aspects of the service. She has remained cheerful throughout and has been a fantastic ambassador for the service with our users in the clinical areas.
Jessica Simms (Imaging Support Worker)
nominated by Amanda Gubb (Trainee Advanced Nurse practitioner)
Jess is an Imaging Support Worker who is regularly sent across from Radiology to support the ultra sonographers in the early pregnancy clinic. Jess's work as a support worker does not stop there- she keeps us all moving like a well-oiled machine. Jess is super organised and keeps everyone up to date with the going on-goings of the clinic. Jess has great working relationships with all the early pregnancy team and the medical team on the Cotswold ward. Patients adore her- she goes the extra mile for everyone, taking time to listen and empathise with our patients. A lot of our work is unfortunately pregnancy loss. Jess handles this very well and supports our ladies with true kindness and compassion. Jess will often call herself "just the support worker", but she is far more than this. She is the glue that holds us all together. Jess makes every day enjoyable, despite the difficulties of what we do. We truly appreciate her and think she is a hero worthy of recognition.
Suad Aden (Staff Nurse)
nominated by Seema Srivastava (Associate Medical Director)
Suad has been instrumental in her leadership in the Bristol Inner City community, supporting the BNSSG COVID 19 Mass Vaccination programme, particularly voluntarily holding focus groups with the Somali community so that they can share any concerns and ask any questions about the vaccine. Her work in encouraging vaccine uptake will have undoubtedly saved lives and severe illness with COVID-19. Suad has also advised the vaccine programme team in the planning of pop-up clinics in the community and has worked in the clinics to support those having the vaccine. Suad's work will help enhance and continue NBT's support to our local communities in keeping healthy and accessing care in a way that is trusted and culturally specific. This work also links strongly to our trust priorities on equality in healthcare. Well done Suad!
Harpreet Kaur (Lead for OSCE programme for International Educated Nurses)
nominated by Seema Srivastava (Associate Medical Director)
Harpreet joined the education department last year and has been leading the OSCE programme for International Educated Nurses. This involved planning and delivering the OSCE training for new oversees nurses. But Harpreet provides more than this. She is passionate about the pastoral care of our nurses who are so far away from home, and particularly right now, with limited access to travel and worrying news due to the pandemic. Recently Harpreet supported virtual sessions for anyone worried about the worsening crisis in South Asia to join us and share any of their concerns and share the support on offer for them. One of the nurses described that when she first arrived, Harpreet went out of her way to solve an issue late at night with the nurse's accommodation. The nurse described how she did not know when she first arrived that she would receive such love and attention from North Bristol Trust and shared how wonderful it was to have Harpreet's support. We are #OneNBT and Harpreet's leadership is enabling new nurses to see that we are a caring organisation and will go out of our way to welcome and enable our teams to feel safe. Well done Harpreet!
Martin Cobner (Imaging Porter)
nominated by Niamh Hamer (Imaging Porter)
Marty consistently and constantly always delivers the best care for the patients when they are being taken for their scans and procedures. He is always analysing the situation and adapting his behaviour and attitude to best suit the patient, whether the patient has learning difficulties, are nervous, are chatty, or do not wish to talk, Marty always knows how to handle the transfer and makes the patient feel safe and comfortable. He is a key member of the team, and all of the porters enjoy his company and find him a big morale booster during the day and night. He will often work longer than his shift to ensure that patients are not waiting longer than they should. He is an absolute pleasure to work with whether you are an imaging porter, a radiographer or a patient.
Jules Blackham (Emergency Medicine Consultant)
nominated by Ellie Day (Emergency Medicine Consultant)
The NBT Hero award was made for Jules. The amount of dedication he gives to NBT is astonishing. He is approachable and supportive to all his colleagues in ED and the whole hospital. I have lost count of the number of times I have heard someone say "Jules has helped me sort it". Anytime you need a piece of equipment/graph/guideline/clinical help, he will always be able to find it or sort it. He not only works as a consultant in ED but is also helping to transform the Trust's electronic patient record system. He has helped me personally with gathering data about vulnerable patients who present to ED, a task which I was struggling to complete. He is truly valued by all of us in ED and I hope this award shows him how highly we all think of him. To quote Dr Leilah Dare "Every department needs a Jules"!
Richard Wilson (Staff Nurse)
nominated by Elizabeth Davies (Receptionist)
I work as a Receptionist at the Pain Clinic, and the reason I am nominating Richard is day after day I watch as he meets and greets his patients into the pain clinic, sometimes for procedures other times for acupuncture, no matter what reason he treats all of our patients the same. When the patients come into the clinic, they are usually nervous, anxious, stressed and the wonderful thing about Richard is straight away he puts them at ease with a winning smile and a joke and you can see how much they warm to him. To me, this is all part of their journey through outpatients. They should feel that they are important, and this is what Richard does. His jokes are old, but this is also part of his charm, he does it so well and this is only part of his many talents.
Les Hannam (Porter)
nominated by Marianne Carter (Elgar Senior Sister)
Les is one of the incredible porters at NBT. He supports our team at the Elgar enablement unit with our inpatient transfers, bringing new patients to the unit and also taking existing patients to appointments and investigations. Les is an immensely popular and kind member of staff. He has an excellent attitude to all his colleagues, patients and their relatives. He is always helpful, considerate, and compassionate to his colleagues and patients. He also has an amazing uplifting sense of humour which boosts morale daily. He is incredibly sensitive and caring towards the patients; on our unit, we have many patients with varied enhanced care requirements who also may often be anxious or confused. Les is always reassuring and explains what is happening in a friendly and understandable way and always prioritises safety, demonstrating excellent interpersonal skills, listening and empathy. Les always works with the team to ensure transfers and investigations are prioritised appropriately and adapts quickly to situations where a change in plan is needed. He is able to work quickly, efficiently and calmly in an emergency and also notices when other members of staff might be struggling and will check they are ok. We feel very privileged to have Les as part of our team and would love to say a huge thank you for the positive impact he has every day on the team and the patients.
Leonia White (Domestic)
nominated by Lydia Gibbons and Lynsey Sandall (Sisters in ASCR)
Leonia has a great work ethic and a lovely personality. Nothing is ever too much trouble, and she always goes above and beyond for patients and staff. She always has a smile on her face, which is sadly covered by a mask at the moment. She goes out of her way to talk to patients and make them feel at ease. She is proactive and when the ward is very busy she does what she can to assist us and our patients. She is a great asset to our ward team and we couldn't do it without her!
Kath Bloomberg (Perioperative Development Manager)
nominated by Honeylyn Sarao (Mediroom Manager and Clinical Practice Facilitator)
Kath always reminds me that leadership is not always about titles or positions. It’s about influencing another. Since I joined the Theatre/Mediroom Education team two years ago, Kath has guided me throughout my journey. Kath has given me independence in planning and executing ideas for the betterment of patient safety. Kath's is highly skilled in her role and is always happy to share her thoughts, knowledge and experiences. She provides feedback to us regularly and helps us as individuals develop and strengthen our potential. Kath has always remained humble and will always give credit to whom credit is due. With her guidance, I am able to successfully launch quality improvement projects within the department. I have known Kath since I was a student and her intelligence has always been admirable. Thank you, Kath!
Rose Lockhart (ED HCA) and Ellen Hennessey (ED Staff Nurse)
nominated by Lisa Haines, Senior Sister
Ellen and Rose were both nominated for the part they played in caring for a patient who was a victim of domestic violence. They both used great skill and compassion to identify the problem and to arrange for the patient to go to a place of safety.
Comments about Ellen:
Ellen was in triage when a lady presented to ED. Ellen contacted translation services and wrote an excellent triage with domestic violence disclosure and took a full history. Her triage notes are really impressive.
Comments about Rose
Rose is an HCA working in the Emergency Department, Rose constantly goes the extra mile with the patient care she delivers. As a team, we all feel that Rose deserves this recognition. One specific episode of Rose's exemplary care is when a lady attended the department who disclosed domestic violence. Rose spent the whole day with this lady. She used translation services, found a charity that would support her, and liaised with the two police detectives. Rose facilitated in the arrest of the perpetrator and managed to organise a place of safety overnight. Rose then extensively documented the case. The Detectives involved in this case were also very impressed with the care Rose had given this lady and her skills in acting as an advocate to ensure the safety of not only the patient but the department. Rose really did go above and beyond!