Hospital colleagues honoured at the 2024 Excellence Awards

The hard work and dedication of colleagues at Sherwood Forest Hospitals has been celebrated at the Trust’s 2024 Excellence Awards ceremony.

The annual awards shine a light on individuals, teams, and community partners who go above and beyond for the Trust.

Over 500 nominations were received this year for colleagues working in clinical and non-clinical roles across the Trust’s King’s Mill, Newark, and Mansfield Community hospital sites.

The awards, which took place at the John Fretwell Sporting Complex near Mansfield on Thursday 12 September 2024, were funded entirely by charitable donations, funding and support from the Sherwood Forest Hospitals Charity and corporate sponsors Kier, Managed Healthcare, and Mills & Reeve who sponsored the drinks reception.

The ceremony started with a heartfelt video message to all the nominees from patient Damien Gath, who was one of the first people in the East Midlands to receive an innovative new drug to manage the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease. You can view the emotional video here: https://bit.ly/4d3sZM0.   

The big award of the evening was the Lifetime Achievement Award, which is reserved for colleagues who have made significant career and lifetime contributions to the trust. Dr Elizabeth Carlin, Service Director for Sexual Health, was the winner.

A longstanding supporter of the Trust, Elizabeth was appointed Service Director for Sexual Health in 2012 and has since led a successful bid for SFH (alongside NUH) to provide high-quality sexual health services for the whole of Nottinghamshire. She was commended for her passion for the Sexual Health services at SFH, in which she has invested so much of her working life – spending most of her career improving the quality of the Sexual Health services for our local population.

Dr Carlin (pictured with Acting Chair Graham Ward and Acting Chief Executive Dave Selwyn) said: “I am absolutely overwhelmed – I really didn’t expect it. It’s been an absolute privilege to do this job for so many years and I’d like to acknowledge the fabulous team around me.”

The Midwifery Bereavement Team were the deserving winners of the People’s Award, which receives nominations from the public.

Louise Heath and Amy Dewar in the team were commended for the support groups that they run for bereaved families and for organising memorial services three times a year for families who have been under their care. The nomination highlighted the care and compassion they gave to a family who experienced the loss of a child.

Louise and Amy said: “We never expected this award - it’s such a huge honour.”

Volunteers are an integral part of the day-to-day running of the Trust and the Volunteer of the Year Award honours this amazing team of selfless individuals. The Mealtime Volunteers were the deserving winners of this category, having been nominated for dedicating their valuable time to supporting our patients with their nutritional and hydration needs and bringing a wide range of qualities, skills, and expertise to the role they do.

The Step into the NHS team, which has been instrumental in recruiting learners from the local community into roles within the Trust received the prestigious Chair’s Award, which acknowledges a person or team who truly deserves to be honoured for all they do for the Trust.

The Trust’s Acting Chair, Graham Ward, and the previous Chair, Claire Ward, who is Mayor of the East Midlands, jointly presented the award to the team which has built strong connections with local partners and education providers, helped drive up recruitment at the Trust and made the public aware that the NHS isn’t just made up of Nurses and Doctors.

Shana McCullagh, Recruitment Officer, said: “It’s really important that we show people that there’s so much more to working in the NHS than the frontline clinical roles that people usually associate with a hospital. It’s great to work with West Notts College and show the value of working with our partners.”

A new addition for 2024 was the Chief Executive’s CARE Award, which was presented to Paula Shore, Director of Midwifery and Divisional Director of Nursing for Women’s and Children’s.

Paula was chosen as a colleague who lives and breathes the Trust’s CARE values – from inspiring others in how she communicates and works with colleagues and partners, always aspiring and improving, and remaining respectful and caring in the toughest circumstances to ensure services remain efficient and safe.

Paula Shore said: “It is overwhelming to have received the award and totally unexpected. While it is so kind and an honour to be acknowledged individually, I have to thank the wider teams that I work with daily to ensure I can be the best within mine”.

Dave Selwyn, Acting Chief Executive at Sherwood Forest Hospitals, said:

“The Excellence Awards is our way of saying thank you to the many colleagues who work selflessly throughout the year to ensure that our patients are looked after with the utmost care and respect. The winners and those shortlisted truly demonstrate the passion that our colleagues put into their roles every day.

“Nothing gives me greater pleasure than seeing the surprise and look of joy on the faces of those nominated when they hear they have been shortlisted for an award, and this is especially true when their achievements are read out to them! It is always a humbling moment to deliver this, and I look forward to this opportunity to honour their achievements with them every year.

“Thank you to all those who took the time to vote in our People’s Award category, please know that your views and feedback make such a positive impact on our colleagues. If you didn’t nominate this year, you will have every opportunity to do so at next year’s awards.”

Full list of winners:

Multidisciplinary Team of the Year - Young Adult Diabetes Service 

Most Improved Team - Chatsworth Ward, Mansfield Community Hospital 

Chris McFarlane - Beth Isle, Radiology team

Rising Star - Dr Laura Pugh, Geriatrics team

Non-Clinical Team of the Year - Newark Hospital Security team

Non-Clinical Individual of the Year - Maria Vernon, Chaplaincy team 

Nursing, Midwifery & AHP Team - Lotus Team

Nursing, Midwifery & AHP Individual - Kimberley Whysall, Respiratory Medicine team 

Doctor and Consultant Team - Acute Paediatrics 

Doctor and Consultant Individual - Dr Kashif Hussain, Emergency Department team

Specialist Healthcare Team Pharmacy Team

Specialist Healthcare Individual Alison Barnett, Cardiovascular team 

Outstanding contributions to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion - Jacqueline Wix for her work with DFN Project Search 

Volunteer of the Year - Mealtime Volunteers 

Lifetime Achievement - Dr Elizabeth Carlin

Community Hero - Angela McCreadie and Wendy Broughton, Breast and Balls

Community Partner of the Year - Grant Roberts, Nottingham Road Clinic

The Chief Executive’s CARE Values Award - Paula Shore

The Chair’s Award - Step into the NHS team

The People's Award - Midwifery Bereavement Team