Three weeks to go before nominations for 2021 close, we take a third look into standout entries for our Non-Medical / Non-Clinical NHS superstars for 2021! 

For confidentiality reasons, names of nominees will not be given, alongside no mention of the Trust. The focus for the UHA Team, who have been reading and pre-sorting every nomination ready for the judge’s eyes, is a great story. A story that encapsulates the individual or team’s hard work, dedication and enthusiasm for their role and the NHS in general, in one of the most uncertain times in recent history.

We have not been disappointed and have read nomination upon nomination that clearly showcases kindness, strong work ethic, compassion, humour, and generous spirt of many individuals who have come together and worked as a whole over 2020 and 2021 for the greater good.

Below is just a small snippet of some of the fantastic stories that have made us proud and humbled to be able to get to read such uplifting nominations across a plethora of roles and personalities. 

We hope you enjoy. 

They have played a significant and pivotal role in enabling and supporting the Trust’s successful Covid-19 vaccination programme. They provided the specialist technical expertise by creating an effective solution that supported the Trust in capturing and recording of Covid-19 vaccination details, which were used to support our performance dashboard. This work developed at pace and also served to inform our approaches for managing, scheduling and administering both the 1st and 2nd Covid-19 vaccinations performed across Trust vaccination hubs.

She has created an army of volunteers who support the site with marshalling and has ensured they have all been recognised with personalised gifts and ‘thank you’s’. In amidst all of this, she continued to support the running of the network, ensuring the clinicians and practices have had access to additional resources and supported the Clinical Directors with the day to day work, as well as the vaccine site. Practices would have been unable to cope without her support in the last few months and we would not have been so successful with our vaccination programme.

They have volunteered to cover EVERY vaccination clinic that was run at our site, meeting and greeting patients and organising their throughput through the building. They have never said “no” and have worked well over and above their normal hours, including coming in for evenings and weekend shifts – sometimes on a voluntary basis. They welcome patients in with a smile, reassurance, even coaching patients who are needle-phobic.

There is a garden in the practice and another in the waiting room that she tends to and loves. Sun, water and the nurturing spirit of her is what the world needs, for the precious time we are here. If there is an opening to reteach a thing, its loveliness. Patient, staff, colleague, friend, stranger, from all and every community it’ll more than likely be her quietly getting on doing her magic. It’s a secret mind, which is part of the joy, so that might add to the challenge of celebrating the joy that she brings…

Having made almost 1,200 telephone calls between them during the 9 months they have been calling, it was lovely hearing that they were all enjoying making the calls, just as much as the patients were enjoying receiving them. As the weeks went on, the calls got longer and longer, as true bonds and friendships were beginning to form and I feel the team brought a real feeling of camaraderie, hope and love to us all.

The first significant impact was completing a set of final accounts with all staff working remotely. Accounts were completed successfully with a clean set of unqualified accounts submitted on time. Regardless of the COVID 1st wave, the deadlines for final accounts submission to Parliament remained in place for May 2020. The next most significant impact was the impact of COVID on Procurement. Procurement challenge was immense in the early wave of COVID, with the supply and availability of PPE being incredibly challenged. Our procurement team were front and centre to this challenge, and ensured all of our services were safe.

Throughout the last 12 months, they have continued to drive us all forward, working long, hard days and nights. Demonstrating the values and work ethics we should all aspire to. Their focus on all matters, from the detail to the big picture always provides the right solution to all manner of problems we have faced within the department. Their remarkable sense of humour has kept the team engaged and giggling along our way, creating much needed diversions from the challenges we have faced together.

As always, an amazing glimpse into our 2021 nominations. We can’t wait to receive the final batch of heartfelt and standout entries before nominations close on July 9th. Remember that all nominations are free to enter for all levels of staff across primary and secondary care, and that you can nominate as many times as you like: https://www.unsungheroawards.com/nominate/