The Only National Awards For Non-Medical / Non-Clinical NHS Staff & Volunteers
Nomination
Award Category:
Volunteer of the year
Individual or Team Nomination?
Team
Qualifying Qualities
In these challenging times, nominators were asked to show how the nominee had demonstrated the following qualities:
Exceptional work ethic - going above and beyond their job description, especially in the past 12 months.
Outstanding achievement/s in work or outside of the organisation where relevant.
Drive for innovation and proactive leadership in these challenging times.
High level of interpersonal skills, such as kindness, empathy, loyalty and thoughtfulness to staff and patients.
A resilience considering Covid to their role and to the health and wellbeing of their colleagues.
Nominators Answer
Nominee's story :
This past year has been an exceptional one with many volunteers deserving recognition of an unsung hero award. I am nominating a team of Virgin Atlantic Engineers who selflessly volunteered at the very beginning of the COVID19 pandemic response during a significant period of uncertainty and risk to their own health to support the Clinical Engineering department at Epsom and St Helier Hospitals (EStH). Our Intensive Care Units (ICU), nationally, doubled and in some cases tripled within a few weeks and with that a need for more lifesaving equipment and more trained, competent engineers to support this equipment.
After a period of intensive training and supervised professional development, the Virgin Atlantic Engineers were able to support the Healthcare Scientist Clinical Engineering team at the hospital to commission, maintain and repair ventilators and other life-saving equipment used in the intensive care units for the care of COVID-19 patients. In total there were 50+ Virgin Atlantic Engineering volunteers and >30 trained and volunteering two days per week.
During periods when there were no COVID19 related clinical engineering support required, the Virgin Atlantic Engineers supported the NHS in the normal day to day tasks of troubleshooting any devices reported as not working by the hospital clinical staff and any servicing requirements to support the normal hospital operations.
The Virgin Atlantic Engineers dedication and work ethic was outstanding and this is certainly a result of their attention to detail and their extensive quality and safety training from the civil aviation background. They were able to use their transferable skills as Virgin Atlantic Engineers to help the NHS and the wider community during the pandemic. The NHS teams supported and welcomed the volunteers, working together, improving the moral and wellbeing of our own Clinical Engineering staff and reducing the unprecedented burden of supporting ITU. The two have been inspirational working together as one team.
As Lead Healthcare Scientist for the Trust, I am hugely proud to have facilitated the Virgin Atlantic Engineers supporting EStH Clinical Engineering department and very emotional when I think back to the dedication and unwavering support afforded to our staff and patients by this group of volunteers at such a critical time in the initial NHS response against Coronavirus. An unprecedented time during the pandemic and a period of working together we will all remember and can be extremely proud of. Thank you Virgin Atlantic Engineering and Engineering volunteers.
Register your score below:
To register your score, please click on the star rating that you wish to give this nomination out of a score of 10.
