Star Awards – New Leader of the Year 2018

October 16, 2018

Our annual Star Awards took place on Friday 12 October, with over 350 colleagues in attendance. It was a fantastic evening, celebrating everything that is good about our organisation.

This year’s New Leader of the Year 2018 was shared by matrons Natalie Whitton and Sam Beck.

Natalie was inspired to be a nurse by her aunt. She started her career as a student nurse with our organisation in 2004. At this time, Natalie had two young children and was juggling this alongside her studies wasn’t easy, but she was determined to achieve her goal. 16 months after qualifying, she had been promoted to a ward sister.

Natalie briefly spent time away from SWBH, before being encouraged by her previous manager to apply for a senior sister post in primary care, communities and therapies. She was successful and returned home in January 2017. After an impressive 18 months, she has now been seconded into a matron post.

Sam is an example of SWBH growing our own. She first joined our organisation as a student nurse in 2004, before joining the surgical day unit at Sandwell Hospital as a newly qualified nurse.  She briefly worked at the sickle cell centre before returning to surgery.

Sam progressed to a band 6 role, before being offered a senior sister post in 2015 covering day surgery, pre assessment and plastic surgery clinical nurse specialists. In October 2017 she was seconded to a matron position.

Check out the videos below to find out why Sam and Natalie were recognised for outstanding commitment.

A full gallery of photos from the awards ceremony can be found on our Facebook page.

If you attended the Star Awards and would like to leave some feedback, please e-mail emily.smith46@nhs.net