Jules Lewis - I became a Fab Ambassador in June 2016 the Academy held a meeting in Birmingham & I haven’t looked back.
Being part of the fab academy for me is being part of fabulous family, like-minded people with one goal to improve the patient and relative care experience, I have shared so much on the academy of fabulous stuff and I have stolen with pride so many things that have been shared on the academy. The academy has shown me what good looks like and I have wanted to do it even better.
Being part of this great Academy has given me so many great opportunities & I have met many fabulous people who I now call friends, it’s the best thing I have been part of, the way in which Roy, Terri AKA the Blonde and Mr Tall treat us Fab Ambassadors is testimony to the Academy - they recognise & respect my beliefs and values and have given me support with by speaking at conferences, doing zip-wires fund raising for the Swan Fund, visiting the Trust for Fab Change and so much more. They are there every day for guidance and support, I am proud to be a nurse of 30 years and a fab ambassador of almost 3 years, here’s to the next chapter one thing is for sure its going to be fabulous.
Thank you for always being there, you will never know how much of a real difference it makes. No matter how tough it gets I will always remember the reason why at the age of 5, I wanted to become a nurse, to make a real difference every day & dreams really do come true.
Jude Graham - this is what Fab means to me:
FAB to me is about a community with a common purpose.
- That is - focussed improvers, passionate about patient care and staff wellbeing and determined to make a positive difference despite the complex climate we all work in.
- Having a FAB mindset is what is important in this community - not what your status, qualification or title is, and the diversity of membership is what makes it exciting supportive and passionate.
- For me the fab team have enabled me to connect with wonderful people and ideas to improve the care I am my organisation provides. It has meant that we have had visitors with passion that have shouted out about what we are doing well as well as helping and not blaming us in the challenges we face.
- I hope I and my organisation have too have brought something to the FAB family, sharing improvement stories and ideas, attending and contributing to events and being the support on the end of the phone to other FAB members when things need thinking through.
Finally, I want to say a huge happy birthday to the FAB team and the FAB community, I am excited to see what the next year will bring!
Claire Carmichael 3rd year - adult nursing student Birmingham City University
‘As a new fab academy ambassador, I feel honoured and privileged to be part of such an amazing team of fabulous people.
I’ve always been passionate about sharing good things across our nhs and want a positive change for the better. It’s amazing that there is a team of dedicated like minded people doing just this! It’s amazing seeing all of the fantastic things going on out there and I love to share them. This is one fabulous train ride that I don’t want to get off!’
Sharon Kidd - Where to start on what my journey as a FAB Ambassador has been so far…..it’s been a whirlwind from the start over 3 years ago and it’s still going My journey started with Roy and Terri visiting our trust back in 2015. It was an amazing day with such energy and buzz around the site and gave a huge boost to staff. My life as a FAB Ambassador started!
Since then I have made some amazing new FAB friends in very different roles across the whole of the UK. We share, we ask, we laugh (especially at the national FAB awards each year) and we support each other. We are truly a FAB family. We get amazing support from Roy, Terri and Jon
I’ve had so many highs from being shortlisted for a TNT in 2016 to actually being the 2018 TNT winner for tie ring bags….that was a day that will stay with me forever. I’ve just recently launched a new initiative….FAB Experience Champions across the trust…their role apart from everything patient experience is to actively share and promote the Academy within their teams….fab share to follow!
We are so lucky in Lincolnshire – we have 5 Ambassadors across 2 trusts aka the ‘Fabettes’. We are all such great friends and our FAB word is spreading across our organisations. We get a buzz we are asked to chat to groups of staff about the FAB Academy and the role of Fab Ambassadors. We say how good it is for staff to share their work nationally and to also be the first point of call when doing a new project as pinching with pride is great
So for me the Academy of Fabulous Stuff is about sharing all the fabulous things about the NHS and to make a difference together with likeminded FAB people.