For one night only, staff at South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust swapped their scrubs and stethoscopes and walked along the red carpet to enjoy an evening of glitz and glamour as they attended ‘Operation Thank You 2015.’
The Trust’s annual Reward and Recognition event is a way of recognising unsung heroes who go above and beyond to provide comfort and support to patients and their families or by going that extra mile to support their team.
Held at the Quality Hotel, West Boldon on Thursday 03 September, over 300 healthcare staff from across Gateshead, Sunderland and South Tyneside came together to applaud their peers as they took to the stage to collect their awards.
First prize for the Innovation Award went to The Anaesthetics CPEX team, second prize to The Retinal Diabetic Screening team and third prize to The Continuous Improvement Team.
Sean McGeary was awarded the Heyman Scholarship, Ward 6 South Tyneside District Hospital was awarded Team of the Year and Bob Hansford was Volunteer of the Year.
Other deserved winners included; the Estates Plumbing team who won the Wildcard Team of the Year, Jeanette Donaldson and Dr Rachel King who were joint winners of Employee of the Year, Gayle Clifford who won The Val Elsy Award for Contribution to Research and Gail White, winner of The Contribution to Education Award.
Dr King, said: “I am thrilled and also shocked to be a joint winner, what a lovely surprise! On behalf of all the award winners and nominees I think it is fair to say that it is a great morale boost to be recognised by the public and our colleagues and to see that our hard work is not going unnoticed.”
Chief executive at South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust, Lorraine Lambert, said: “Now in its thirteenth year, ‘Operation Thank You’ provides a special way for us to say thank you for the work of individuals and teams through a nomination process that enables the general public and colleagues to put forward the people they really feel have made a difference, all of whom deserve to be stars for the night and recognised for their contributions.
“I am very proud to see the dedication and kindness that stretches across all teams. Our number one priority is patient care and to hear the fantastic feedback from members of the public is very moving. Their contribution is very much appreciated.”