Former striker returns to honour healthcare staff at awards ceremony
16 May 2017
Committed staff and volunteers at Croydon Health Services NHS Trust were once again joined by much loved former Crystal Palace striker, Mark Bright, on Thursday night (11 May) as they celebrated their Croydon Star award wins for outstanding work with Croydon people.
The annual awards ceremony gives the Trust the opportunity to say thank you to their staff who provide outstanding care, and to the volunteers who commit to helping patients in their own time, at its hospitals, clinics and in peoples’ homes.
Mark Bright joined the celebrations for the second year running. Presenting the winners with their awards, he said: “I was invited to the Croydon Stars awards event last year and really wanted to return to see some more inspiring stories from the staff and volunteers.
“The work that they all do to help the people of Croydon is amazing. It’s humbling to hear about people giving up their own time to help out in the hospital and the staff who work tirelessly with patients, some with over 40 years’ service.
“Coming from a playing career which, generally, lasts about half that time, I really do commend the people who have reached that achievement.”
Bright also recalled the devastating Croydon tram derailment last November and made a special tribute on behalf of his former club: “On behalf of the club I’d like to thank you for your hard work and commitment on that day. You and your colleagues cared for many of the injured and their families through this difficult time.
“We all know how much it rocked the Croydon community and we definitely felt it here at the club as two of the victims were Crystal Palace supporters. It also bought people together and showed everyone how vital your roles are when a disaster like this happen.”
Among the volunteers receiving a Croydon Star was Elaine Pritchard, whose 45 years of volunteering was welcomed by a standing ovation on the night. Mrs Pritchard, who fell into volunteering by chance after a friend suggested she try it out, has since spent most Sundays volunteering at Croydon University Hospital and was delighted to receive her award: “I feel extremely special to receive this recognition for my volunteering.
“When I started, I was immediately put into a great team and was very struck by the quiet efficiency and dedication that I witnessed. In a short time coming in regularly on Sundays for a couple of hours became part of my weekly routine.
“I enjoy talking to patients and helping them to eat if they need it and have a lasting friendship with a Ward Sister who joined after me and retired some years ago. I could not envisage when I started that I would be still coming to CUH after 45 years.”
The awards covered aspects such as outstanding leadership, achievement, teamwork, and volunteering. There were also two recognising the best team and individual who as part of Listening into Action have ensured staff can make any changes needed to improve care.
John Goulston, Trust chief executive, added: “Once again our staff and volunteers have made the Trust very proud this evening. The awards always inspire me because the winners come from a long list of people who are nominated by their peers and our patients.
“This year we had nearly 400 nominees and picking the final winners was extremely difficult. The Croydon Stars Awards reiterate how much our staff and volunteers are valued across the Trust, and all of the winners, and those shortlisted and nominated must feel extremely honoured.”
Winners of Tremendous Teamwork award was the Flu Vaccination Team. Their win came for their amazing achievement in successfully immunising 78 per cent of patient-facing staff last winter – the highest uptake rate by more than 20 per cent, compared to the previous year.
Iain Docherty, Head of Occupational Health, Wellbeing and Nursing, and a member of the winning team, said: “After working really hard across the Trust to achieve the second highest uptake in staff vaccinations in London, we were highly commended in the 2017 NHS Employers flu fighters awards, and now to be recognised by our colleagues as Team of the Year really caps a great few months for us.
“Working together we achieved the best results ever recorded in the Trust. Vaccinating our staff means protecting them and protecting our patients from the flu virus, which in some cases can be deadly, so we didn’t take our roles lightly. It took a lot of time and commitment from us all and it’s great that this has been appreciated by the judges.”
This year’s Croydon Stars awards were attended by around 90 staff and were held at Crystal Palace Football Club. Nominations were made by patients, staff and visitors and the judging panel was made up of staff from across the trust.
The Croydon Stars award winners were:
Amazing Achievement - Belphoebe Lundy
Belphoebe was nominated for her hard work and dedication to supporting women in Croydon who suffer a pregnancy loss. She has made great improvements in the care the Trust provides relating to miscarriages, including improving information given to women and memory boxes to help them cope with their loss. Through LiA she is also looking at ways to help reduce stillbirths. Regardless of how busy she is, she always goes above and beyond and offers a helping hand to her colleagues and maintains her kind and professional manner.
Tremendous teamwork - Flu vaccination team
The flu team and peer vaccinators received their nomination for their amazing achievement in successfully immunising 78 per cent of patient-facing staff – the highest uptake rate by more than 20 per cent compared to 2015/16. Due to the outstanding work of the team Croydon Health Services was the second most successful London Trust on the flu jab uptake and meant they delivered their CQUIN work £492,000.
Incredible customer service - Dr Panos Theofanoyiannis
The Deputy High Commissioner based in Cameroon nominated Dr Theofanoyiannis for an award because of the outstanding service he provided to the British Diplomat’s wife when she needed our care. Dr Theofanoyiannis was praised for being very gentle, kind, considerate, caring and a credit to both the NHS and his profession.
Landmark leadership - Dr Suraj Paudel
While leading the coding team, Suraj has achieved exceptional results including the highest level on Information Governance Toolkit, a stretch target of completing coding within five working days and significantly contributed to securing income as part of the Trust’s financial recovery plan. His nominations also praised him for being hard-working, polite, helpful and “an inspiration to us all.”
Listening into Action individual champion - Jacqueline Woodcock
Jacquie was nominated by several individuals for her commitment, dedication, ‘can do’ attitude in continuous improvement work with nurses, for her engagement in LiA and dedicated work with the LiA Team across many work streams. Jacquie has also been the in-house ‘Quiz Master’ for all the CHS staff quiz events held over the last 2 years.
Listening into Action team of the year - Adult Community Therapy team
The Adult Community Therapy Team was nominated for this award for being winners of the Wave 5 Pass it on event Presentation and for bringing together four community teams to work together on improving communication between teams through shared clinical governance. The Team continues to work on streamlining the referral pathways and improving communication with patients and external referrers.
Allocate Software "Oscar" - Duppas Ward
They not only produced the best rosters in the Trust, their rosters were always maintained to a very high standard and have always been rated Green, in terms of finalisation, sending shifts to NHSP, hours balances, take charge always covered, updating the sickness records correctly.
Volunteer of the Year - Neville Baker
Neville has been a volunteer for the past two-and-a-half years. He is a breath of fresh air. Always happy and smiling his up-beat personality is infectious. He is always willing to drop everything and help where needed. He has proved a real asset in the Ambulatory care unit and on a number of occasions Neville will come in on extra days to assist on the lunch club at short notice when asked. Neville has such a vibrant personality and makes our patients chuckle with his jokes and dancing.
STAFF LONG SERVICE AWARDS
The following colleagues have all achieved
30 years of long service
Sally Massey
Donna Carr
Wendy Ness
Ann-Marie Baker
Sally Thomson
Declan O'Gorman
Amanda Moss
Susan McDonald
Belinda Barrett
Anne Goodsell
Bibi Jannoo
Catherine Collins
Inga Ferm
Mary Upson
Yvonne Tappin
Karminni Coomber
40 years of long service
Patricia Pritchard
Kamal Sidar
Elaine Dalton
Angela Osmond
VOLUNTEERS LONG SERVICE AWARDS
The following volunteers have all achieved
5 years service
Georgia Deaton
John Thorpe
Ann Osborn
Alison Gaan
Shila Kotecha
Tajinder Nagi
Beverly Stedman
Salma Hansdot
Jennifer Charles
Debbie-Ann Francis
Alan Boughton
Veena Mehra
Patricia Ransted
Deo Jairam
Ann Towner
Iris Parmenter
Yolanda Horsted
Jennifer McDonald
Patricia Hanarahan
10 years service
William Cuin
Chanda Morjaria
Gladys Adjaye
Derek Read
Yvonne Garrard
Sheila Player
15 years service
Ian Briggs
Barry Crossby
Margaret Crossby
Jean Austin
Julia Walton
20 years service
Diane Littlewood
25 years service
Margaret Reed
30 years service
Jean Mawson
45 years service
Elaine Pritchard