About the Staff Reach Awards 2023
REACH (Recognising Excellence & Achievement in Combined Healthcare) celebrates our staff, service user representatives and carers over the past year.
We hosted the 2023 awards in a new venue for the event, welcoming everyone to the Ballroom at Keele Hall on 15 November 2023.
For those not able to attend in person, the whole event was broadcast live, which can be watched below. Viewers could also choose whether to watch the livestream in a virtual reality experience, so they could enjoy the best seat in the house.
We were delighted to be presenting REACH in partnership with our main event sponsor, Interclass. We were also grateful for award sponsorship from the following organisations:
- CACI
- Dedalus
- IT Works Health
- Port Vale FC
- SERCO
- Stoke City FC
- Town Hospitals Ltd
- Unison
Winners
Diversity and Inclusion Award
(Sponsored by Stoke City FC)
Criteria
This award recognises the contribution of staff and volunteers who have made a positive difference in developing greater diversity and inclusion. This might be improving access and experience to services or employment for people in disadvantaged or minority groups, improving quality of life or quality of working life.
Winner:
Sarah Wanjiku, Senior Mental Health Practitioner
Highly Commended:
Sherrine Khan, Senior Peer Support Worker
What Sarah’s nominators said:
“Sarah is a joyful person to work with and brings laughter at the most difficult times. She is caring and compassionate towards her colleagues and patients whom she supports. She has always ensured she is available and approachable by her colleagues and patients when needed.
“Sarah has been the ENRICH lead for the trust for the past two years and gone above and beyond to support our colleagues from diverse backgrounds, ensuring they have a voice and are heard.”
Leading with Compassion Award
(sponsored by IT Works Health)
Criteria
This award recognises a member of staff who values and develops people, sees them as individuals and encourages working together for better lives through an open and honest approach. It recognises an individual who has demonstrated compassionate leadership with patients, colleagues or their wider team.
Winner:
Charlotte Shevlin, Operational Team Lead, Greenfields Centre
Highly Commended (joint winners):
Hector Musonza, Senior Mental Health Practitioner
Donna Cantrell, Associate Director, Acute and Urgent Care
What Charlotte’s nominators said:
“Charlotte is full of compassion to staff and patients, leads by example, is approachable and accessible, she understands the team’s strengths and motivates change for better patient care.
“She leads a team in a very challenging area of the city with a high volume of users with a personal, empathic approach to the needs of the staff. When a member of staff missed their graduation due to unforeseen circumstances, Charlotte arranged a make-shift graduation and invited all the staff at their workplace to attend, so the staff member was able to ‘graduate’ with their colleagues.”
Learner of the Year Award
(sponsored by Interclass)
Criteria
This award recognises and celebrates our learners and the contribution they make to Combined and its service users. This award is open to students, apprenticeships and anyone studying as part of their role across the trust.
Winner:
Jodie Stokes, Student Nurse
Highly Commended:
Lucy Didcote, Ward 3 Manager
What Jodie’s nominators said:
“Jodie is an exceptional student who is passionate and driven about learning and becoming a mental health nurse. She is a perceptive student nurse who is eager to learn new theories and implement evidence practice.
“Jodie is responsive to learning and patient care, is compassionate and caring towards patients and staff that she comes into contact with. Jodie always conducts herself in a way that represents the service with pride.”
Partnership Award
(sponsored by CACI)
Criteria
This award showcases how an individual or team can work in partnership to produce results to improve the lives of others. Successful individuals or teams will have broken down professional barriers across the trust and/or with partner organisations, leading to a positive impact on the experience of service users.
Winner:
Wellbeing College
Highly Commended:
Adam Walker, STR worker
What the Wellbeing College’s nominators said:
“This team has broken down professional barriers across the trust and with partner organisations, to ensure they are successful and remain authentic to the evidence base that supports them, leading to positive impact on the experience of service users, staff and the public.
“They work tirelessly to be inclusive of our community, people who use our services and staff, they have brought this initiative to life over the last 12 months, built relationships with partner organisations, to enable to college workshops to run in all different parts of Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire, to reach all people including those hard to reach, to improve the lives of others through recovery education, support and development.
“They are incredibly approachable, everyone everywhere knows them and approaches them, and they have built excellent relationships working in and outside the organisation.”
Proud to CARE Award
(sponsored by Serco)
Criteria
This award recognises someone who exemplifies our Proud to CARE values: compassionate, approachable, responsible and excellent. Staff vote to decide the final winner from a shortlist.
Winner:
Leanne Norman, Team Leader, Mental Health Liaison Team
Highly Commended:
Sarah Mountford, Clinical Lead, Learning Disabilities
What Leanne’s nominators said:
“Leanne is an amazing manager who places her staff and patient care above anything else. She is compassionate and caring, which appears limitless. Her team feel they are very lucky to have her as a manager.
“She has continued to show compassion and care – regardless of how busy it has been – to staff and patients alike. She encourages her team to push themselves and better themselves by encouraging them to aspire to greater things. She has worked tirelessly, applied herself to every aspect of the changing team and has had to manage a number of changes within the uncharted territory of the Crisis Care Centre.”
Research and Innovation Award
(sponsored by Dedalus)
Criteria
This award recognises innovation or achievement in research and development or practice which has a positive impact on mental health care or improves quality or value for money services through innovative approaches.
Winner:
Yellowhouse Looked After Children CAMHS
Highly Commended:
Greenfields Centre Core Team
What the Yellowhouse Looked After Children CAMHS team’s nominators said:
“The Yellowhouse team strives for excellence by providing the best evidence-based practice possible to all service users, continuously evaluating that practice through seeking qualitative and quantitative feedback and by addressing any challenges. The team continues with their CPD and participates in appropriate training in order to raise qualifications and deliver the highest standard of care.
“The team has highlighted a number of issues with blocked care which often takes place when carers struggle to meet the emotional needs of children with significant trauma difficulties and often leads to placement breakdowns, rejection and further trauma for children.
“They always take time to listen to the worries and concerns and provide thoughtful, creative and flexible ways of working. This could mean answering a call from a distressed social worker, visiting a 17-year-old young person living independently who cannot get to Dragon Square or taking time to work with the foster family in a family therapy clinic.”
Rising Star Award
(sponsored by Dedalus)
Criteria
This award recognises emerging exceptional leaders who are exceeding expectations and making change happen. The award aims to recognise the influencers of today, and the senior leaders of tomorrow.
Winner:
Josh Cantrell, Business Intelligence Officer
Highly Commended:
Sarra Rowley, Receptionist, Harplands Hospital
What Josh’s nominators said:
“Josh has great interpersonal skills – he is building relationships and is forming some really good connections across the organisation. He is always ready to help and support staff with their queries and works hard to come up with innovative solutions. He is always willing to take on challenging tasks, and his forward-thinking and growth mentality is present in all of his conversations.
“Josh supports the trust approach to reducing health inequity in respect of the role of the trust as a provider of care. His work has supported Community Transformation and the trust’s Health Framework that enables the trust to monitor the effectiveness of interventions and actions to reduce inequity.
“Relatively new to the trust, having joined the performance team in February 2023, the nomination is in recognition of the significant impact he has made to the team and wider trust in this short time and the compassionate leadership role his is taking across a number of areas by using trust data to drive improvement.”
Service User and Carer Award Award
(sponsored by Interclass)
Criteria
Nominations can only be made by Service Users and Carers. This award values individual or teams who stand out from the crowd for being thoughtful, for listening and responding to our service users’ needs.
Winner:
Michael Foster, Consultant Psychiatrist
Highly Commended:
Ward 4
What Michael’s nominator said:
“Dr Foster has been a constant for my daughter. We first met him during COVID-19 over Attend Anywhere. He was then the psychiatrist at Tunstall, but soon moved onto the Darwin. He kept my daughter on under his care for some time, to keep the continuation going for her. He has been the lighthouse in many storms for us. A true example of patient care first, meeting the patient’s needs but also making those difficult decisions to admit her when needed.
“Whilst she was waiting for a bed she was at the Royal Stoke for several weeks. He came to the hospital multiple times to see her, bringing his gorgeous dog Rupert with him. This was above and beyond his duty of care towards her, she wasn’t even under his care as such but he knew her best and he helped her with understanding the need for inpatient treatment.
“Thank you for everything you have done for us, not just for my daughter but her sister too while she was in the Darwin Centre. You have been instrumental in my girl’s journey and recovery, you will be missed when she moves to adult services.”
Team of the Year Award
(sponsored by Port Vale FC)
Criteria
This award is given to a team which shows, through their actions and approaches, how they work together to improve the lives of others and demonstrate creative approaches to problem solving.
Winner:
CASTT (Community Assessment Stabilisation & Treatment Team)
Highly Commended (joint winners):
Greenfields Centre Team and Darwin Centre Team
What CASTT’s nominator said:
“This team are inspiring in the work they do to support a complex patient group, in their approach to delivering services in an innovative way and, most importantly, doing so with compassion, commitment to evidence-based practice and an unwavering dedication.
“It’s hard not to be compelled by the team and the strides they have made in a relatively short space of time to deliver high-quality care that really has clear impact.
“I’ve also been blown away by the resourceful nature of the team – working without a ‘solid’ base, the team have adopted digital ways of working that has shown to be really beneficial for this service user group.”
Unsung Hero Award
(sponsored by Unison)
Criteria
This award pays tribute to an individual who has exceeded the expectations of their role with an outstanding attitude and behaviour. Working behind the scenes, or in a supportive role, they have a positive attitude and, through their actions, help to make a difference to others.
Winner:
Janine Burgess, Trainee Advanced Nurse Practitioner
Highly Commended:
Rachel Hughes, Admin/ Business Support, ARRS Mental Health Team
What Janine’s nominators said:
“Janine goes above and beyond, giving 110% for every piece of advice or decision made towards the care of our service users. They are a vital component that helps their colleagues provide the best care possible. Despite all of her other commitments, she has shared her knowledge and skills – and even during placements she offers help and support when needed, helping others to progress in their own career, always extremely supportive and always there.
“Janine is a long-serving and loyal member of the North Staffs Combined family. On her continued journey as a trainee advanced nurse practitioner, she has gone above and beyond to maintain ties with her base team despite extremely demanding academic and placement weeks on other teams.”
Volunteer/Service User Representative of the Year Award
(sponsored by Town Hospitals Ltd)
Criteria
This award pays tribute to someone who works to improve the lives of others. This award honours someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the patient or staff experience, from administrative support to customer care or fundraising.
Winner:
Volunteer Parent Mentors, Eating Disorder Service
Highly Commended:
James Shippard
What the Volunteer Parent Mentors’ nominators said:
“The Volunteer Parent Mentors’ role is embedded in honesty and openness while creating an atmosphere that is safe and welcoming. They hold first-hand experience of care journeys and have committed to supporting other families who are currently in the treatment process. They have committed to monthly appointments to support families and supervision with some of the members of the team.
“The members of this service are responsible for making their own appointments with families, maintaining confidentiality and knowing when to raise any difficulties with the team where necessary.”
Chairman’s Award
Criteria
Chosen by the Chairman from the winners on the night, this award recognises and individual or team who embodies the trust’s values.
Winner:
Charlotte Shevlin
Watch the Awards
