Watchdog presenter helps Trust celebrate staff and volunteer awards Staff and volunteers working to improve the experience of patients and colleagues at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, have been recognised at a special awards evening.

Television celebrity and special guest Lynn Faulds Wood presented certificates to the winners at the sixth annual staff awards, which recognise those who inspire others and deliver beyond expectations. The awards were open to anyone in any role working for or with Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, including our community services staff. To ensure our patients continue to be involved, we invited patients and visitors to tell us who their stars were.

Lynn, famed for her appearances on Watchdog and GMTV, told the 150 guests that she was moved by the many great stories she had heard as she talked to staff. “I want to pay tribute to you all, you really do put people back together again. I have been so impressed by everything I have heard and seen this evening and you are all truly inspirational,” she told guests.

Anne Eden, chief executive, said the awards are a great way for the excellent work taking place in the Trust to be recognised: “The staff awards are a way of saying ‘thank you’ to those staff and volunteers who consistently provide a high level of care and quality to our patients, often going above and beyond the call of duty. The nominations received this year clearly demonstrate that many staff and volunteers really do go that little bit further”.

During the awards ceremony, which included many highlights, one moving moment took place when the award for Outstanding Contribution was presented to the partner of Karen Jenkins, who recently died of cancer, for her inspirational and outstanding work as a critical care nurse at the intensive therapy unit (ITU) at Wycombe Hospital. Staff were awarded in the following categories this year: • Improving Quality Award: Lucy Minett - community staff nurse - breastfeeding (Marlow Health Clinic) • Team of the Year Award: Spinal physiotherapy team • Volunteer of the Year Award: Community volunteers - Moira Hummerstone, Kath Killick, Betty Kendall, Ann Parker and Marion Marriott (Amersham Health Centre) • Healthcare Team of the Year Award: Uro-oncology clinical nurse specialist nursing team • Outstanding Contribution Award: Karen Jenkins – ITU nurse (posthumous) • Healthcare Professional of the Year Award: Jill Mowforth – clinical nurse specialist, cancer services • Lifetime Achievement Award: Myra Paterson – district nurse locality lead • Chairman’s Awards: Service standards – champions and facilitators The awards, held at the Chiltern Medical Education Centre at Wycombe Hospital on 25 November, were kindly sponsored by Laing O’Rourke, Sodexo and Enterprise Healthcare, and United Healthcare South Buckinghamshire.

Based on information supplied by Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.