Communications Team – Unsung Hero Awards

Nomination

Award Category:

Corporate Services

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 :

With just three people serving two hospitals and community services, we are one of the smallest acute Trust communications teams in the country. We often joke we are small, but perfectly formed! The Head of Communications, Communications Manager and Communications Officer work closely together to go above and beyond to meet the organisation's communications objectives. We love what we do, and the team just cracks on with any ask, without complaint. This varies from the big asks - like opening a brand new A&E department or co-ordinating high profile political or media visits - to the small ones, like making sure our frontline colleagues' charity bake sales are known about. Everyone's communication priorities are different and important to them, and we pride ourselves on putting our heart and soul into making sure that everyone receives an excellent service from comms. No ask is too big or too small for CHFT Comms. My team never asks for praise or recognition - in fact, they shy away from it. But they really do deserve to be recognised for their unwavering commitment to always helping others shine in the spotlight. Even out of hours, my colleagues care so much that they respond to messages through social media from patients or relatives with a query or concern. They live and breathe the organisation, and the people we serve. One of the best pieces of work in the past year was an innovative digital project which challenged the status quo for NHS video production, and as a result let to a significant number of direct hires into hard-to-recruit roles. Over the course of a week, we captured on film just some of the compassionate care that our teams deliver, both inside our hospital walls and in the community. Working 12-14 hour days (much like our clinical colleagues) to get this over the line, we turned the traditional 'talking head' recruitment film on its head and captured the heart of the Trust, without using a single word. The film (uploaded in the attachments but also on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiQkZmfhjOI) was quickly shared extensively across social media, achieving a combined number of views across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube alone in excess of 70k. Media coverage of the film in our local press described it as: "an emotional watch, featuring all kinds of care from new babies to pensioners, and cancer patients to homeless people" and a "celebration of amazing compassion of Halifax's nurses, doctors and other hospital staff." https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/health/calderdale-royal-hospital-emotional-video-celebrates-amazing-compassion-of-halifaxs-nurses-doctors-and-other-hospital-staff-4046258 Two weeks after the premiere of the film, we appointed 20 direct hires at a paediatric nursing (a professional we struggle to recruit to) recruitment event we held at the Trust. Most of the people in attendance on the day told us they had found out about the event through seeing the film on social media or in the local press. The reach of our team goes far beyond the people that work for the Trust. We are embedded in our community and it is a privilege to serve our local population.