Three members of staff at our Trust have been given You Made a Difference awards for their contributions to providing excellent patient care at our hospitals.

Patient is grateful for NHS staff like Graham

Graham Honeyman, a healthcare assistant in our Emergency Department (ED) at King George Hospital, was nominated by a patient for being kind and helpful.

In their nomination, the patient said: “I attended A&E in severe pain and he went out of his way to ask me how I was, and offered me tea. I let him know I was ok, but needed to ring work, and my phone had run out of battery. He offered to let me use his personal phone.”

The patient also commented that they had seen Graham care for a frail and older person “in an incredibly compassionate manner.”

“The NHS has had a horrible time this past year, and I am grateful they still have people like Graham.”

The award was presented by Tony Chambers, Chief Executive, who praised Graham’s compassion.

Graham, who has worked at our Trust since 2008, said he was “totally overwhelmed” to win the award. He added: “I try to come to work every day with the right attitude, wanting to make a difference. It’s fantastic when a patient sees that.”

Hannah is recognised for supporting our Respiratory team

Hannah Holmes, service manager for our Chest Clinic, was nominated by Rajesh Banka, consultant respiratory physician.

Rajesh said: “Hannah has provided vital support to the development of the team and to improve services. This includes a valuable action plan to meet the recommendations of the Getting It Right First Time deep dive into lung cancer.”

He added that Hannah is also “helpful and supportive to all members of the team.”

Tony Chambers, Chief Executive, thanked Hannah for her hard work and presented her with the award.

Kamile acknowledged for role in restarting appointments

Kamile Dovtartaite, cardiac physiologist, joined our Trust just before the Covid-19 pandemic and faced a steep learning curve to get used to the department and help restart appointments after the first lockdown.

She was nominated by Chief Cardiac Physiologist, Suzanne Squirrell, who described Kamile as “invaluable” to the team while they identified which patients to prioritise.

Suzanne added: “Her development over the last year has been phenomenal, she has grown so much as a person and developed her clinical skills and knowledge. She should be very proud of herself.”

Kamile, who was presented her award by Kathryn Halford, Chief Nurse, said: “This is the first award I have won since I started working in the NHS. It’s very precious to me because I feel that my efforts have been recognised, and it has encouraged me to do more.”

Well done to Graham, Hannah, and Kamile.

They are among a number of winners who were nominated during our recent Thank You Week. Other winners will be announced soon.