Derbyshire Healthcare celebrates staff success at its annual Honouring Excellent and Really Terrific Staff (HEARTS) Awards

On 20 November 2024, Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust held its annual HEARTS staff awards ceremony at the Trust’s conference room at Kingsway Hospital, Derby. This year’s awards have seen some notable winners, including three members of staff in the same team who were celebrated for having a combined length of service of 120 years.

View the winners or read on to learn more about the ceremony.

The awards ceremony, hosted by members of the Trust’s Board of Directors and sponsored by Integrated Health Projects (IHP), Kier Construction and Tilia Homes, recognised individual Trust employees and teams who have gone above and beyond the call of duty and performed at a consistently high level over the last year to support patients, carers and fellow colleagues. Over 100 nominations were received for the awards from both inside and outside the organisation.

Lifetime Achievement

Three exceptional colleagues working within Children’s Occupational Therapy were presented with the ‘Derbyshire Healthcare Lifetime Achievement’ award for dedicating a combined 120 years of their career to the NHS and to supporting children in Derby and southern Derbyshire with complex physical movement needs, reflecting the Trust values and demonstrating a commitment to providing support and care to patients and their families.

Jan Nicholson, Elaine Rickett and Janet Taylor, all Occupational Therapists, accepted this award for their ongoing commitment to the Trust over the years, making Children’s Occupational Therapy the highly-rated service it is today.

The three winners were described by the person who nominated them as “hardworking, supportive and skilled” colleagues. Jan has, during her career, pioneered a way for young children to have powered mobility, and has also won a national award for developing a buggy seat to support children with reduced sitting balance, and recently received a prestigious merit award from the Royal College of Occupational Therapists.

Elaine has specialised in working with children with sensory difficulties in schools and other settings, creating an online parental sensory course so all parents can access this in their own time and at their own pace. Elaine has also played a key part in the development a of Derbyshire-wide sensory toolkit.

Janet, meanwhile, has established a patient pathway and assessment clinics for children with Dyspraxia and Developmental Co-ordination Disorder, used across the north of England, and produced award-winning teaching resources on handwriting and developing children’s hand skills.

Elaine was unable to attend the awards, but Jan and Janet shared a few words on how it felt to be acknowledge at the award ceremony as winners. receive their award.

'Very fulfilling'

Janet said: “It’s very fulfilling to be recognised. It’s nice to know our experience and knowledge is valued, not just by our own team but by the whole Trust.”

Jan said: “It’s lovely to receive this award. It’s really nice to know that people hold us in such high regard.  We’ve already retired and returned. I came back because I still had a sense of not quite having finished, and that I still had knowledge to pass on to the next generation. We are now doing our best to ensure children’s occupational therapy is in safe hands.”

Janet agreed, saying: “Mentorship is what I particularly enjoy these days. I love training and developing the younger staff.”

Clinical Team of the Year

Another standout winner at the HEARTS Awards was the Memory Assessment Service team, who won the ‘Clinical Team of the Year’ award for rising to the challenge of working in ever-changing circumstances whilst delivering compassionate care to patients.

The team, who assess people in Derbyshire who have memory and other cognitive difficulties that might relate to a form of dementia, received two nominations for the transformational change they have made to expand the number of patients they assess, working more efficiently whilst still maintaining good practice standards and delivering high quality patient care.  

'A journey'

Memory Assessment Service team member Joby Joseph said: “Receiving an award like this is amazing for the team, and we feel so proud to have been recognised. This is testament to the hard work by all our colleagues during the year.”

Dr Madalina Cosmulescu, consultant psychiatrist, said: “It’s been a journey for us – it’s been a hard two years, but we’ve improved tremendously, increasing the number of people we’ve assessed without compromising care. I was jumping when we won – I felt like a kid!”

Non-Clinical Team of the Year

The ‘Non-Clinical Team of the Year’ award was presented to a team for working tirelessly, facing challenging issues and working effectively for the wider benefit of the Trust and patients.  This award went to the ICARE workforce development team. ICARE stands for ‘Increase Confidence, Attract, Retain, Educate’ and the team won this award for successfully providing new healthcare support workers with knowledge and support during the first six months of their employment, through an innovative training programme. 

The ICARE team have won national awards for their programme, which combines pastoral support with fun, unusual skills-based learning.

Nick Holburn, Healthcare Support Worker Development Lead at Derbyshire Healthcare said: “The Icare Team has worked hard to develop and embed care and education for all support workers who join the trust and to have this acknowledged by winning this award is a wonderful achievement. It also evidences the value the Trust places on ensuring our support workers feel informed and appreciated, making Derbyshire Healthcare a great place to work."

Rising star

Other award categories included the Rising Star award, which celebrates outstanding performance and recognises future potential by someone new to the NHS or new to their team or profession. The award winner was Sifo Dlamini, Clinical and Operations Project Manager for the Trust’s Making Room for Dignity programme, through which the Trust is developing six new inpatient healthcare facilities. Sifo won this award for the way he has successfully made the switch from a clinical role to a project management role and engaged with colleagues around the programme, always taking the time to explain the clinical and practical reasons behind any decisions made. 

Sifo was honoured to receive his award, and he said: “I am honoured to be recognised by my fellow colleagues and the Trust at today’s award ceremony.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed the transition from working in a clinical role as a complex needs nurse for the Derby Drug and Alcohol team to being a project manager for the Making Room for Dignity programme. It has been a joy to engage with both staff and patients to advocate for what matters to them.”

50 Years' Service

A special award was presented at this year’s ceremony to reflect an exceptional colleague, Balbir Kaur, a Domestic Assistant who joined the NHS as a Domestic Assistant on 25 November 1974 – 50 years ago.

Trust Chief Executive Mark Powell paid tribute to Balbir for giving all her working life to the NHS, to the Trust, and to the people of Derby and Derbyshire, making sure the wards and buildings are clean and the Trust’s patients and staff have the very best environments.

Colleagues in Estates and Facilities praised Balbir for being very industrious; “when she is going to a new or different site to clean,” said one colleague, “Balbir doesn’t wait to be told what to do, but will look around and see what needs to be done. And she will think outside the box to find solutions when there are issues. And if you say to Balbir, ‘you can leave that task for tomorrow,’ very often she’ll say: ‘No, I won’t be able to sleep, I’ll do it now!’”

Colleagues also marvel at Balbir’s energy – Balbir regularly works two shifts a day, even now, after 50 years.

They describe how dependable Balbir is. “Balbir is someone you can turn to and she won’t let you down,” said a colleague. She has an incredible memory; Balbir doesn’t carry a smartphone, but she knows every shift by heart, and she can even remember everyone’s start date – she must have a microchip in her brain!”

“Most of all, colleagues wanted to thank Balbir for the warm spirit she brings to every workplace she is in – her smile lights up the room for colleagues and patients alike. I hope you’ll agree that Balbir demonstrates all our values, and fully deserves this 50 Years’ Service Award”.

Balbir, who received a standing ovation, said: “I was a little nervous to come to the awards ceremony, but it was very nice to come and hear the lovely things that my colleagues said.” 

Mark Powell, Chief Executive at Derbyshire Healthcare, congratulated colleagues who were successfully named as winners and finalists, as well as all those who were nominated. Mark said:

HEARTS Awards winners

A full list of winners from our HEARTS Awards are:

• Clinical Team of the Year Award – For teams that have risen to the challenge of working in ever changing circumstances and have delivered compassionate care to patients.

WINNER – Memory Assessment Service

• Continuous Improvement/ Research Excellence Award – This award is for a team or individual who demonstrates an outstanding and innovative contribution to research, development and/or Quality Improvement. 

WINNER - Jackie Hughes, Corrine Gale and Phyllis Leung

•  Non-Clinical/ Corporate Team of the Year Award – For working tirelessly, facing challenging issues and working effectively for the wider benefit of the Trust and patients. 

WINNER – ICARE team

• Rising Star Award – This award celebrates outstanding performance within the organisation and celebrates growing talent at Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. This person will be new to the NHS or their profession and have made exceptional contributions to their team and service.  

WINNER – Sifo Dlamini

• Inspirational Leader Award – For showing real care and compassion for colleagues, always finding time to listen to concerns, remaining available and open to discussion and offering support and guidance.  

WINNER – Tom Larder

• Derbyshire Healthcare Lifetime Achievement Award – To celebrate NHS75, this award is to honour a member of the Trust who has dedicated at least 25 years of their career to the NHS. They will truly reflect the Trust values and will have demonstrated a commitment to providing support and care to patients and staff.   

WINNER – Children’s Community Occupational Therapy (Jan Nicholson, Elaine Rickett and Janet Taylor)

• Outstanding Care and Compassion Award – This award is for an individual who goes that extra mile to ensure their service is caring and compassionate and makes a difference to the lives of patients, service users, carers and staff.  

WINNER – Janice Moores

• Environment Impact/ Green Award – This award is for a team or individual who can demonstrate the achievements and progress being made across the Trust to tackle carbon reduction, implement sustainable practices and improve the health of the community.   

WINNER – Cherry Tree and Kedleston Occupational Therapists  

• Equality and Diversity Award – This award recognises an individual that has made significant contributions in promoting equality and inclusion for patients and communities and for colleagues in the workplace. 

WINNER – Enoch (Toby) Marandure

• Making a Difference Award – For making a positive difference to the lives of the people we serve day to day by taking initiative without being prompted, demonstrating exceptional reliability and a willingness to help, and embodying our values: Respect, Honesty, People First and Do your Best.  

WINNER – EQUAL

• 50 Year’s Service Award – This award celebrates a incredible milestone in terms of long service and has been specifically created with a colleague in mind.

WINNER – Balbir Kaur

Award nominations had been considered by a judging panel made up of Chief Executive – Mark Powell, Director of People, Organisational Development and Inclusion – Rebecca Oakley, EQUAL forum member – Sandra Austin.

Awards were presented at today’s ceremony by:

• Chief Executive – Mark Powell
• Deputy Chief Executive / Chief Delivery Officer – Vikki Ashton Taylor
• Non-Executive Director – Ralph Knibbs
• Medical Director – Arun Chidambaram
• Director of Nursing, Allied Health Professionals, Quality and Patient Experience – Tumi Banda
• Director of People, Organisational Development and Inclusion – Rebecca Oakley  
• Non-Executive Director – Tony Edwards
• Trust Chair – Selina Ullah
• Kier Construction representative – Libby Mc Cartney
• Integrated Health Projects representative – Sassi Stark
• Director of Finance – James Sabin