Tenisha Joseph – Unsung Hero Awards

Nomination

Award Category:

Admin & Clerical

Individual or Team Nomination?

Individual

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 :

Tenisha has revolutionised the thoracic department since joining in 2017, from going digital and helping set up a long term follow-up programme to creating an environment in which professionalism, respect, affection and laughter coexist and bring the multidisciplinary team together. It is easier to talk about everything she does that is above and beyond her job description, than the minority of her daily tasks which are what would be expected in her role and that by all means she continues to do exceptionally. With a year's vacancy for a second thoracic secretary, Tenisha has been doing the admin for the entire team of three consultant surgeons, four registrars/ fellows and three advanced clinical practitioners. Despite the insurmountable amount of work, no patient has ever been missed or felt ignored, and Tenisha's clinical knowledge means there is added value to every communication and every suggestion that comes from her. She is in fact also a point of reference of the extended team, and is often contacted for advice on patients and pathways of which she always demonstrates to have incredible knowledge. No task is ever too big or too small for her, and you may find her in preadmission clinic holding a patient's hand or scrubbed in theatre to save the day from some informatic glitch. No theatre list is ever left underutilised and with her initiative and help we have been able to send elective cancer patients to theatre within a couple of days from referral. She has also been pivotal in the organisation of the FRCS in Oxford and this year's SCTS student engagement day. But above all, Tenisha genuinely cares about patients and this transpires in her work, the priorities she sets for the team and her interactions with patients who are always grateful for everything she does and happy to know they will find her on the other side of the phone. During the pandemic, Tenisha enrolled at university despite the difficult times and having demanding responsibilities in her personal life, and she is working towards a career as Physician Associate in which she will excel without a doubt.