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 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.
Other winners include Tracy Keats, Head of Safeguarding and Dementia, who won the Patient Safety Award; the Neonatal Outreach Team won Clinical Team of the Year award; The Unsung Hero Clinical Award was won by two people, Julie Melvin, Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Specialist and Mihaela Ene, Lead Consultant, Medicine for the Elderly, and Sue Lloyd, Consultant Obstetrician won the Patient Experience Award.
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.”