Trust Awards 2018

The night of Friday 9 November 2018 was a night of loud celebration as around 240 staff and volunteers gathered to cheer on their colleagues at this year’s Trust Awards.

Hosted by former mental health nurse turned comedian Sean Collins (who appears in many of the pictures), the event provided the perfect opportunity for our staff and volunteers to take time out to acknowledge all that they’d achieved over the past year.

There were over 30 staff, volunteers and teams nominated for awards and you can read more about them all in our awards programme.

Our Trust Award Winners 

Non-Clinical Employee of the Year Award
Nasser Mohammed, IT Analyst

Nasser Mohammed

Nasser’s outstanding contribution to the work of the IT Service Desk is felt Trust-wide. He is described as being extremely hard-working and always on hand to help with everything from day-to-day computer issues to larger scale threats.

Due to the demands of the role, he’ll often deliver bigger projects in his own time. These have included developing apps, web pages and informatics dashboards that are used by various teams to make their work easier. Nasser’s helpful and positive manner makes him a popular member of the team who demonstrates patience, professionalism, and a determination to provide solutions.


Clinical Employee of the Year Award
Janette Hynes MBE, Occupational Therapist, Forensic Services

Janette Hynes

As well as her work as an Occupational Therapist on Ward 3 at the Newsam Centre and across two other forensic wards, Janette goes out of her way to help service users get the support they need after discharge.

She’s done this by introducing a number of activities, including a couch to 5K running group, and by forging relationships with other community projects. She’s helped service users to find courses or employment and is working to put a system in place to help occupational therapists stay in touch with their service users when they transfer to outpatient services.

Her work to develop new interventions reduces the risk of relapse for those who would otherwise struggle with a lack of occupation, routine and opportunity.

 


Health and Wellbeing Award
Sophie Bracewell, Gender Outreach Worker

Sophie Bracewell

 

Sophie is a Gender Outreach Worker and a highly valued member of the Rainbow Alliance, promoting the Trust’s work to improve services for the LGBT communities.

She supports people on the Gender ID Service waiting list and in the wider trans community, helping to improve their health and wellbeing by providing emotional support and connecting them with relevant community groups.

She feels passionately about tackling transgender physical health inequality, is working tirelessly to raise the profile of the Gender Recognition Act reform, and stands up for the rights of trans and non-binary people. She’s also set up a support group for family and friends of the trans community.

 


Bank Employee of the Year Award
Kwesi Gyan, Health Support Worker 

Kwesi Gyan

 

Kwesi is an outstanding member of our bank staff who goes above and beyond whenever he’s on shift. He is always smiling and supportive to colleagues and service users and brings an infectious positive energy and can-do attitude.

It isn’t unusual to find him leading everybody in song and dance on the ward!

He is proactive in raising concerns, suggesting ideas, and leading change to boost team morale. He doesn’t shy away from difficult conversations and knows when to seek support.

Feedback from ward teams and service users is consistently positive for his hard work, sensitivity and adaptability, and he’s known for his caring and supportive nature to those in distress.

 


Non-Clinical Team of the Year Award
The Becklin Fire Support Team – Logistics, Estates and Facilities 

Logistics estates and facilities team

Following the fire on Becklin Ward 5 earlier this year, the Logistics, Estates and Facilities Teams were immediately on hand to liaise with the fire service and ensure that staff and service users were moved quickly and safely.

The Logistics Team provided all boxes, transport and support needed to relocate to Bradford, working incredibly long hours without complaint. They went above and beyond in the weeks that followed too, ferrying staff over to the temporary ward on a minibus.

The Estates and Facilities Team also played a vital role in making the move as smooth as possible. They then worked collaboratively with others to ensure that Becklin Ward 5 was refurbished to a high standard.

 


Clinical Team of the Year Award
Ward 5, Becklin Centre

Ward 5 Becklin Centre

 

This busy, acute ward experienced a serious fire in May, which meant relocating all service users, staff and necessary care equipment to a temporary location in Bradford for three months.

This substantially increased commuting time for many staff, impacting on personal lives and shift patterns, yet the team rallied around with kindness, co-operation and a can-do attitude to care for each other and their service users during the emergency, relocations, and while in their temporary working environment.

They’ve returned to Leeds having reflected on some of the challenges within the ward with enthusiasm, ideas and determination to move things forward and make improvements to person-centred care.

 


Partnership Award
Emergency Department Frequent Attender Group

Emergency Department Frequent Attender Team

This group was set up in partnership with Leeds Teaching Hospitals and Leeds-based charity Barca.
Its aim was to reduce the number of attendances at A&E by a specific cohort of people identified as frequent attenders who would benefit from mental health and psychosocial support.

Through joint working and collaboration, the team have adopted a consistent approach to understanding and meeting the complex needs of individuals who frequently use crisis, emergency and urgent care services.

In their first year, the team achieved a reduction of 31% in attendances for the selected group, surpassing the 20% target.

 


Volunteer of the Year Award
Alice Holland

Alice Holland

Alice became a volunteer Carer Consultant with the Trust’s Personality Disorder Services in 2017. Since then, she has helped facilitate a number of psychoeducational courses and a peer support group for carers of people with personality disorder.

She has spoken about the group publicly on several occasions, including at the Trust’s Annual Research Forum and the British and Irish Group for the Study of Personality Disorder’s conference.
Alice has supported two other carers to become Carer Consultants and has helped improve the information given to carers.

As a carer herself, Alice is able to communicate complex ideas about personality disorder in simple terms. She has great credibility within the group and her enthusiasm and empathy have been extremely valuable.

 


NHS70 Award
Dr Elizabeth Carmody, Consultant Psychiatrist
Graham Fox, Ward Manager
Dr Sophie Roberts, Child Psychiatrist

Dr Elizabeth Carmody

Dr Elizabeth Carmody

Dr Elizabeth Carmody, Consultant Psychiatrist
During the 20+ years that Dr Carmody has worked at the Trust, she’s had a profound impact on the lives of service users and their families. She has overseen and made countless contributions to their care and transition through an inpatient setting, helping people with learning disabilities, who have been in crisis, to return to the community and a more independent life.

As Lead Psychiatrist, she has also provided supervision and has supported many of her colleagues in the development of their careers. Recently retired, she will be remembered for always going the extra mile, her kind and caring approach and her vast wealth of knowledge and experience.

 

Graham Fox and Dr Sophie Roberts

Graham Fox and Dr Sophie Roberts

Graham Fox, Ward Manager
Graham has worked as a mental health nurse and ward manager in York for 30 years and his positive and realistic management style make him someone his team at Riverfields can rely on. He has an impeccable eye for detail to ensure good quality care and if something isn’t working, he addresses the situation with no fuss.

Performance data for Riverfields is excellent. The ward has a supervision rate of 90%-100%, staff report feeling supported, and there is a low sickness absence rate. Graham himself has only had one sick day in 30 years! His dedication to staff and service users, as well as his commitment to service development, improvement and depth of knowledge, is building a real legacy.

Dr Sophie Roberts, Child Psychiatrist
Sophie has been a driving force in Deaf CAMHS since it became a service in 2009. She is passionate about working with deaf children, young people and their families and is a powerful advocate for them when needed. Sophie is open, honest and unafraid to challenge, but always respectfully and with service users in mind, and she delivers a first-class service.

She is instrumental in delivering continuous improvements to services and standards and lives her values, having recently completed British Sign Language (BSL) Level 6 (approaching interpreter standards). Sophie is a respectful, knowledgeable and supportive leader who stays calm under pressure and takes responsibility. She has played a vital role in driving the development of a strong, supportive and CQC-rated ‘Outstanding’ team.

 


Inspiring Leader Award
Bekki Whisker, Matron, Clifton House

Bekki Whisker

Bekki joined Clifton House as Matron at a challenging time, when two wards had closed and many staff had moved on. Since then she’s worked tirelessly to bring stability to the team and reduce any anxiety and uncertainty. The way she has communicated with and supported colleagues during significant service developments, and challenged decisions when needed, mean staff look up to her as a positive role model.

Her approach to leadership has boosted morale and health and wellbeing, seen performance figures soar and improved service user care and satisfaction. It has also helped to bring about the safe re-opening of Westerdale Ward.


Chair and CEO Award
Forensic Service Leadership Team
Specialised Supported Living Service

Forensics and SSLS

The Forensic Leadership Team
The Forensic Service is inherently complex, reflecting the challenges of supporting recovery, ensuring public and service user safety and meeting the requirements of the criminal justice system.
After concerns were raised about the service, it underwent an external service review and in March 2017 a report highlighted issues with team working, interdisciplinary conflict and staff wellbeing, and the viability of the service was questioned.

Since then, the leadership team has pulled together to address many of the issues. They have worked incredibly hard to significantly improve the culture and relationships between clinicians and leaders, while also focussing on providing high quality care. Staff are now reporting higher engagement levels and renewed optimism which is supported by performance data.

The Specialised Supported Living Service

When the CQC downgraded the service from ‘Good’ to ‘Requires Improvement’ following an inspection in 2016, the team rallied round to work out what needed to improve.

Within a year, they had developed, written and revised many procedures, policies and processes, had them approved and delivered training to make sure all 200+ staff were up to date.

By the 2017 inspection, the CQC recognised the excellent work that had taken place, but gave the team just two months more to develop a tool to demonstrate how they monitor quality via a Quality Assurance Framework. Through determination, commitment and collaboration, the team succeeded in implementing this (and more) and were awarded an overall ‘Good’ rating with ‘Outstanding’ for Caring.


You can read the full awards brochure which includes details on all our 32 nominated staff and teams.