Golden Hearts Outstanding Individuals Vote 2020

Outstanding Individual: Nursing and Midwifery

Claire Hunt

Nurse Practitioner (Bariatric Service)

Since joining the Bariatric service in 2015 Claire has made significant efficiency and patient experience improvements. As the only nurse in the service she is responsible for a large case load of complex patients and supports them before and after weight loss surgery.

Patients often return to see her and update on their progress, keen to share their success, which is testament to the support she provides them and the relationship she works so hard to establish with them.

One of the many patient comments speaks volumes about Claire: "Very friendly, put my mind at rest. Thorough. Changed my life."

Karen Jarvis

Trust Lead Advanced Practitioner

In addition to being the first Lead Advanced Practitioner for the Trust, Karen works as a Cardiothoracic Advanced Clinical Practitioner, working extra shifts to prevent the department paying for expensive locum cover.

She has developed a structure of team leaders to manage the ACPs and helped develop new roles for ACPs in the Trust.

When the Cardiothoracic Charge Nurse died suddenly Karen increased her clinical hours to support the staff and made herself available all of the time so that the team could talk to her about their grief.

She leads from the front and is an example to us all.

Daphne Pashley

Staff Nurse (Gynae Theatres)

Daphne works with the same drive and passion as she did the day she started with the trust, and is known by colleagues and patients for her caring and compassionate approach to her work.

She has championed many service improvement projects which have received regional and national acclaim. Her portfolio is filled with 'Thank you' cards from patients and staff members; records of appreciation and gratitude for her calm presence that helped them manage their anxiety before surgery.

Daphne's colleagues say she is a good teacher, a patient advocate and a leader without a title.

Outstanding Individual: Medical and Dental

Dr Sandhya Jose

Consultant in Paediatrics

Over the past 18 months, Dr Jose has been crucial in leading the transfer of the community paediatric service, comprising 2,400 children with cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders, from CHCP into our Trust. Some had been waiting several years to be followed up. This was no mean feat; caseloads needed to be reviewed, clinical records validated, and young patients seen urgently in clinic. She always works hard to meet the diverse needs of her patients and families, ensuring ethnicity, background and health needs are no barrier to excellent care, and this was no exception.

Dr Jose has taken this work in her stride, and while she is always quick to credit the team around her, it's clear her own passion and commitment are second to none.

Dr Sathish Kallankara

Consultant in General Medicine and Rheumatology

Dr Kallankara is a consultant in general medicine and rheumatology. Compassionate, respected and driven, he looks to the person beyond the ailment, and it's because of this that his patients find him both caring and reassuring.

He has introduced new patient pathways, helped to train colleagues from specialist registrars through to GPs and occupational therapists, and gets a huge satisfaction from seeing others achieve. Much of the work he does is carried out in his own time.

Dr Kallankara also works closely with the local Versus Arthritis patient group, helping to break down barriers and ensure patients feel listened to. Considered akin to a film star, he's been described by them as someone who "puts the living back into life".

Dr Abayomi Salawu

Consultant in Specialist Rehabilitation Medicine

No matter how far their journey or the nature of their clinical condition, Dr Salawu wants patients receiving rehabilitation care to achieve the very best possible outcome. Good is not good enough.

During the COVID first wave, he coordinated a regional multi-disciplinary learning event for staff to hear more about the disease. He used one patient's first-hand account of hospitalisation with COVID to share powerful lessons, show the importance of patient experience and teach colleagues how to care for this group more holistically. The learning was later published by Dr Salawu in order that as many people as possible could benefit.

Selfless, inspirational and relentlessly positive, Dr Salawu inspires his team to do what's right, to champion the patient, and provide the best possible care.

Outstanding Individual: Scientific, Technical and Therapeutic

Helen Hobman

Specialist Ophthalmic Imaging Lead

Helen is the Imaging Lead within the Eye Hospital and is a person who gets things done.

She has worked to improve patient experience through the Humber Eye Health Imaging Hubs Project Group, which reduces patient travel by providing imaging closer to home. At the same time, this creates additional capacity in the hospital for other patients who need to be seen face-to-face.

In addition, Helen has coordinated the installation of the new £150,000 Optos Silverstone camera, organising training for relevant staff, and is also working on a project to record vision assessments in a way which will reduce the need to pull casenotes for upwards of 3,000 outpatient appointments each year.

Sheela Jayakumar

Speech and Language Therapist

The specialist skills of Sheela Jayakumar came into their own during the COVID pandemic's first wave when this experienced speech and language therapist was drafted in to work in ICU.

Ordinarily to be found in the neurosurgery therapy team, Sheela spent most of her time supporting patients with COVID-19 in intensive care at HRI.

She is an excellent team player, and on one occasion, helped the psychology service deliver care to a patient whom they could not directly access. She spent time helping them to communicate with a psychologist via video link, and her role was crucial in helping to lift the patient's mood.

Sheela's 'can do' attitude and positive outlook can't help but shine through.

Jodi Roper

Assistant Psychologist

Assistant psychologist Jodi Roper has made an invaluable contribution in a short space of time.

Jodi was redeployed during the first wave of the COVID pandemic to develop and run a staff support service. She led on the production of information materials for staff, which enabled the qualified psychologists to focus on more direct specialist psychological input for those accessing the service. She kept records to enable staff support to be monitored and evaluated, and was able to source donations to raise staff morale.

Always willing to help and work at short notice, Jodi also helped the psychologists to ensure urgent neuro-rehabilitation and neuro-oncology patients could still be seen in a timely manner.

Outstanding Individual: Non-Clinical

Allison Coggan

Communications Specialist

Allison has established herself as an invaluable member of the communications team and has set herself a goal of improving the Trust's Staff Survey performance in respect of health and well-being.

In addition to successfully telling the stories of our staff she designed UP!, the Trust's health and well-being programme which now has over 10 social clubs including book club, gardening group and HUTH Harriers, the running group.

When COVID-19 landed Allison stepped out of her comfort zone to be the comms lead and in a recent staff survey over 30% of staff cited communications as the most effective aspect of our pandemic response.

Nami Sajja

Senior Organisational Development Practitioner

Nami values not just equality, but fairness. She believes in honesty, about who we are and how we are so that we can compassionately bring about the changes we need to make in ourselves, one another and our systems.

She has held the hand of our leadership team as they took their first steps into unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory, reinvigorating our BAME network. She has taken our leaders off their journey and invited them onto ours, creating leadership programmes for BAME staff and for white managers – challenging the myth that we're okay.

For the first time BAME staff believe their voice matters. Its impact is visible.

Rachel Wrightson

Head of Finance

Rachel genuinely believes the Trust's greatest assets are not those recorded in the accounts, but its people.

Without all staff working together the Trust would not be able to provide the excellent patient care it provides.

She can always be relied upon to provide constructive and honest feedback and to help out in any situation.

Without being asked she stepped up and led on the Finance team COVID-19 response, taking responsibility for the department's development programme and ensuring colleagues received vital updates.

Rachel does everything she can to enable improvements to happen and does everything she can to avoid saying 'no' to anyone.

Outstanding Individual: Volunteer

Vicki Brown

In 2018, Vicki Brown approached the voluntary services team to enquire about how she could become a volunteer and help staff, patients and visitors alike. At interview she explained how she had lived with her parents her whole life and had been nurse and carer for them both.

She was quickly accepted as part of the team on Ward 30 at the Queen's Centre where her nickname is little smiler. Vicki has come in to volunteer four mornings a week to help out with breakfast.

Her confidence has grown to the point that she has now been appointed as a ward catering assistant with the trust.

David Freer and Lewis the dog

Come rain or shine David and Lewis visit Acorn Ward every week. In helping alleviate their nerves before surgery Lewis does tricks for the children and lets them listen to his heart beat using a stethoscope.

At Easter, Christmas and other occasions Dave will bring in presents for the children that he has collected from the local community, and he does all of this in his spare time, as both he and his wife have full time jobs.

Dave's charity Nice2BNice has raised funds for the ward enabling staff to buy televisions, game stations and much more which all enrich the time that children spend in hospital.

Olive Kirkpatrick

Nothing is ever too much trouble for Olive; all she wants to do is help. She walks visitors and patients all over the hospital. She makes the lives of hospital staff easier by engaging with and listening to patients and their families.

Everyone should be fortunate to have an Olive in their life. Her wicked sense of humour and positive outlook brightens up the day for patients and staff alike.

Even when Olive was going through a traumatic time at home when her husband was terminally ill she found it in her life and heart to come in and volunteer. We owe her a huge debt of gratitude.