Excellence in healthcare celebrated at RUH awards ceremony

The highest quality of care, compassion and innovation was recognised at the recent annual awards ceremony for the Royal United Hospitals Bath (RUH) NHS Foundation Trust.

Winners of the You Matter Awards were selected from over 130 nominations in 16 categories, thanking staff for their exceptional dedication to people they care for, the people they work with and people in the wider community. Antiques dealer and television presenter Paul Martin generously donated his time to compere the ceremony and help present the awards.

The Preceptorship team, supporting newly registered professionals to settle in at the RUH, won the Working Together Annual Award. This award recognises exceptional teamwork.

The team runs workshops to help people to build their confidence in their new roles. Hundreds of RUH colleagues have enrolled in the programme which spans wellbeing, career development and patient care.

There were two winners for the hotly contested Making a Difference Award, which recognises individuals who have led improvement work.

Dental Nurse Lorraine Forrester was honoured for improving how the RUH provides mouth care to help patients feel more comfortable as they are nearing the end of their life, and Pharmacist David Skirrow was recognised for introducing a new electronic prescribing process which gives clinical staff more time to spend with patients.

Other award winners included:

• Director of Midwifery Zita Martinez who won the Chief Executive's Outstanding Achievement Award for leading maternity services in retaining an outstanding CQC rating
• Estates Officer Nicky Bonner who won the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award for inspiring her team with a presentation she created called 'Free to be Me', fostering an inclusive working environment
• the Research and Innovation Award went to the team behind a series of interlinking, studies looking at non-invasive techniques to risk assess people for pulmonary arterial hypertension – this is an often fatal complication of systemic sclerosis, which is a rare autoimmune condition, which could be treated if identified early on
• and the Volunteer of the Year Award was won by Bob Gavin, who selflessly donates his time to clean equipment returned to the Children's Therapies department, so it can be safely and swiftly reused for other children

Staff were also recognised for 25, 35 and 45 years of service.

Alison Ryan, Chair, said: "We are incredibly lucky at the RUH to have so many exceptionally dedicated and caring colleagues, working in every corner of the organisation. Our awards ceremony was a true celebration of that.

"We have a vision at the RUH to be a place where every single person matters, and it was an honour to recognise the accomplishments of our colleagues and teams that contribute to making that a reality.

"On behalf of our Board of Directors I offer our warm congratulations to all our winners, and those who were shortlisted too."

The full list of winners:

• Working Together Annual Award: Preceptorship team
• Making a Difference Annual Award: Dental Nurse Lorraine Forrester and Pharmacist David Skirrow
• Everyone Matters Annual Award: Talent Manager for Nursing Helen Slocombe
• Chief Executive's Outstanding Achievement Award: Director of Midwifery Zita Martinez
• Chair and Chief Executive's Outstanding Service Award: Senior Executive Assistant Helen Perkins
• Rising Star Award: Staff Nurse Vhari Macfadyen
• Leader of the Year: Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon and Clinical Lead Nicky Laurence
• Wellbeing at Work Award: Retention Lead Midwife Jess Murray
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award: Estates Officer Nicky Bonner
• Kindness and Civility Award: Occupational Therapist Anna Hill
• Personal Achievement Award: Infection Control Nurse Dana Di.Iulio
• Patient Safety Award: Anaesthetist Ronan Hanratty
• Research and Innovation Award: Non-Invasive Parameters of Pulmonary Hypertension in Systemic Sclerosis project
• Working with our Community Award: Junior Charge Nurse Manny Mabulay
• Student of the Year: Clinical Research Practitioner Victoria Page
• Volunteer of the Year: Children's Therapies Volunteer Bob Gavin

Plus there were two awards celebrated which had been presented earlier in the year: the 2023/24 Improving Patient Experience Award won by the Trauma Assessment Unit, and the 2023 Lindsey Dow Trainer of the Year Award won by Consultant General Surgeon Edoardo Ricciardi.

ENDS

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