It was a night of thanks and recognition at the South Eastern HSC Trust’s annual Chairman’s Awards which returned after 3 years, due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.
The Chairman’s Awards recognise, reward and celebrate the exceptional dedication, innovation and achievements of staff, both as individuals and as teams. This year there were 8 categories, 5 of them reflecting the Trust’s key priorities; Continue to Improve, Empower our Staff, Engage with You, Ensure Safety, Improve Quality and Test Experience, Outstanding Team, Help You to Stay Healthy and Well and Improve Quality and Test Experience. The additional 3 categories reflected the outstanding commitment of an individual, team and a Trust Volunteer.
The overall winner on the night was the Primary Care Multi-Disciplinary Teams for their local wrap around service which aims to meet the social, physical and mental health wellbeing of the population in the Downpatrick area. The service has been instrumental in transforming the way that services are delivered across Northern Ireland and is ensuring that the needs of patients are met at the earliest possible opportunity which reduces the need for onward referrals into secondary care services.
The Primary Care Multi-Disciplinary Team also won the Help You to Stay Healthy and Well category, their wrap around care programme gives service users a voice and the opportunity to reform the service to improve outcomes and gives them an opportunity to avail of a holistic approach to their care which has had a positive influence on their health and wellbeing.
Winner of the Staff Member Going the Extra Mile was won by Infant Mental Health Key Worker, Bronagh McCabe, she was nominated by her colleague, Infant Mental Health Coordinator, Janine Dougan who described Bronagh, who has been nursing for 40 years as being central to the establishment of the only specialist infant mental health team in Northern Ireland. She added, During her time with the ABC PiP service Bronagh has shown so much compassion and to the clients and staff that she works with. Even in the most difficult of circumstances she strives for excellence and provides the best possible support and advice to those she cares for. I am so proud to have Bronagh in my team, we are all very proud of her.“
The Going the Extra Mile award for Volunteers was won by Daniel McCartan a Volunteer driver for the Trust’s Children’s Services. Daniel was nominated by Project Support Coordinator, Sharon McFerran who was delighted with Daniel’s win said, “Daniel is a driver for the Children’s Services team and a consistent part of the children’s lives, he is a stable influence and the children enjoy chatting and singing songs with him on their journeys. Daniel facilitates numerous other roles within the Trusts Volunteering Service including delivering cardiac monitors to patients unable to attend the hospital which provides a vital service to those who are the most vulnerable in our society. Daniel is very well respected and he is always keen to motivate others to volunteer, he always goes the extra mile.”
Recently appointed Chairman of the Trust, Jonathan Patton was thrilled to host the awards and commented, “This was a wonderful event which showcased the incredible work which goes on in our Trust. It was chance to recognise the achievements of our staff who work so hard to serve our community and to thank them for that extra mile every single day.”
Winners in the other categories were as follows; The Continue to Improve category was won by the GP MDT Social Work & SET Outdoors Teams for their innovative Donkey Days project which aims to promote the emotional wellbeing of vulnerable children by providing the opportunity for these children to care for donkeys who mirror their own behaviours and teach them holistic ways to manage their feelings.
The Engage with You category was won by the Towards Zero Suicide Team who have developed a comprehensive structure to support the transition of suicide specific research and national and local learning into practice. The team is primarily focused on improving outcomes for patients presenting with suicidal ideation and/or behaviour to Adult Mental Health Services across the Trust area.
The Ensure Safety, Improve Quality and Test Experience category was won by the Community Addictions team based in Ards Hospital. The team have been working tirelessly to improve services for their service users to reduce waiting times, promote long term recovery and improve their engagement with the Addictions service. This collaborative approach has increased the service user involvement and developed a number of projects including a recovery garden maintained by the service users and recovery groups facilitated by trained peers who have experienced their own recovery journeys.
The Empower our Staff category was won by the Digital Champions team who have designed a unique programme to bridge the divide between the digital literacy of staff and the required levels of digital literacy needed to fulfil the duties of their roles. Continuous advancement in digital technology and operating systems can cause issues for staff, this project was created to empower them with the help of a network of digitally literate staff to support them and encourage them to have a better understanding of the technology available to them. This programme demonstrates true collective leadership with staff of all grades working across hierarchical structures to provide digital assistance wherever needed.
The Outstanding Team category was won by the Acute Services Block Team who were responsible for the development and construction of the £261 million redevelopment of the Ulster Hospital, making it one of the largest health care projects in the UK. The Acute Services Block opened on 6 November 2021 and provides new standards for patient care, with modern technology and innovative healthcare design. This project was a massive collaborative effort from teams across a variety of Trust services including; Capital Development, Hospital Services, Estates, ICT, Patient Experience and Finance in the middle of the Pandemic.
