Northampton General Hospital announces superhero winners of Best Possible Care Awards 2019

Over 200 staff and volunteers at Northampton General Hospital (NGH) were nominated for a Best Possible Care Award 2019 and 14 winners were recently announced at an awards ceremony on 27th September 2019 at the hospital.

Northampton General Hospital’s Best Possible Care Awards are an opportunity for people to nominate staff or volunteers who’ve made a difference to their hospital experience or helped bring about real improvements to the services and the care patients receive. The theme for this year was ‘superheroes’.

Dr Sonia Swart, Chief Executive of Northampton General Hospital said: “There’s something about superheroes. Superheroes are people who do something special with their skills or powers to help people. Superheroes do something really special to make people feel great. They usually have a passion for a battle and pick their fights. They look after their body and mind – something which our heroes may forget to do.

“They also do something very important – they wear a mask to be unidentifiable when they do something amazing, they don’t ask to be thanked. They do their heroic deed because they want to and afterwards go back to their lives. Our staff and volunteers are just like these superheroes. This night not only belongs to our shortlisted nominees but to everyone at NGH. You will know that amazing care and random acts of kindness are done every day. These are people who don’t ask to be thanked but who just do it.”

One of this year’s winners is Hilary Hart, Medical Secretary at the hospital, who won the Outstanding Contribution award. Her nominee said: “This year our Outstanding Contribution award goes to someone who knows Northampton General Hospital inside and out and who has dedicated their life’s work to the hospital. Without their commitment and dedication, thousands of patients wouldn’t have received the care required for them to live life to the full.

“Their dedication to the team and the invaluable support they have provided to colleagues shows in the amount of gratitude and respect people have for this person. The support this person gives to their department is second to none and they have been recognised not only by their colleagues, but it was also an easy decision for our judging panel too.”

Northampton General Hospital provides acute care services for 380,000 people and has two gynaecology theatres and two obstetric theatres that are open 24 hours a day. The hospital has recently invested in new facilities, including an emergency centre and a new chemotherapy suite, offering a great work environment for its healthcare teams.

It is the first hospital in the UK to have achieved the Pathway to Excellence® accreditation, an international programme to validate workplaces, where nurses are supported to develop and flourish. The hospital also takes part in the DAISY® awards, an international programme cognises the hard work of nursing staff.

Andrew Belcher, Clinical Resource Planning Manager at Northampton General Hospital said: “The Best Possible Care Awards provide a fantastic opportunity for us to celebrate our staff and volunteers. We also do this throughout the year with our DAISY awards for nurses and midwives and our Everyday Hero awards for all other clinical and non-clinical staff.

“The hospital offers a supportive and engaging working environment where staff can thrive and progress. A key focus for us is the education, training and development, as well as recognition for staff that go that extra mile. We’d like to congratulate all the winners of this award as well as those that were runners up.”

Other winners include Tracy Keats, Head of Safeguarding and Dementia, who won the Patient Safety Award. The person who nominated Tracy said: “There can be no greater area of patient safety as important as safeguarding our most vulnerable patients. Tracy has transformed safeguarding at NGH. She’s dedicated, hardworking and always puts high quality care above all else. She’s also calm and pragmatic which are two essential qualities in her role. I’ve learnt so much from her and never feel I can’t pick up the phone and bounce a problem off of her.”

The Neonatal Outreach Team won Clinical Team of the Year award. The person who nominated them said: “The team ensures babies can be discharged home from the neonatal unit earlier with nursing support. These babies have often been on a long and difficult journey in their short lives and this service enables families to continue to care for babies in their own homes. Joyce and Amanda use their wealth of knowledge and skills to provide support and care for these families for as long it’s required.”

The Unsung Hero Clinical Award was won by two people. One was Julie Melvin, Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Specialist. The person who nominated her said:My mum was at the end of her life and looking at the flowers through her window in Collingtree ward. She was an avid gardener. The day before she died, we visited and there was a little pot of flowers on mum’s table. We later found out that Julie noticed her looking out of the window and went and picked them for her so she could smell them. This little act of kindness meant the world to us.”

The other winner Mihaela Ene, Lead Consultant, Medicine for the Elderly. The person who nominated her said: “One evening in resus we had a young patient who had been stabbed in the chest. I was concerned he may have a life threatening heart injury so called for Dr Ene. Despite it not being her speciality, she was there immediately and scanned the patient to confirm that his heart was ok. She had a very heavy workload, but she stepped up, as she always does, to help her patients and colleagues in need.”

And Sue Lloyd, Consultant Obstetrician, who won the Patient Experience Award. The person who nominated Sue said:Sue is an amazing person. When pregnant with my second baby she knew how nervous I was after my first pregnancy. She did all of my appointments and there were a few times where I worried and phoned her for help. She told me to come in straight away and did a scan. She did my C-section and supported me throughout. Her service and skills are amazing and I wouldn’t have coped without her.”

To see all the winners click here.

Northampton General Hospital is one of the key partners in the ‘Best of Both Worlds’ recruitment campaign. It is the first campaign of its kind to bring together several NHS providers to address the national shortage of doctors and nurses by highlighting the many benefits of relocating to Northamptonshire, including the varied career opportunities and better quality of life.

The campaign unites the University of Northampton, Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Northampton General Hospital, Kettering General Hospital (KGH), St Andrew’s Healthcare and Northants GP.

Northampton General Hospital currently has a wide variety of vacancies including nursing staff, consultants, healthcare scientists and technicians, as well as non-clinical administrative and estates and ancillary roles. For more information, click here.