Congratulations to all our winners at this year’s Star Awards!
October 17, 2023
Last Friday we held our 2023 Star Awards where a total of 13 awards were handed out to both clinical and non-clinical colleagues across SWB.
Our awards ceremony, which was held at Aston Villa Football Club, aims to recognise the hard work and dedication of our colleagues and volunteers, both on the frontlines and our supporting services.
Throughout this week, we will be celebrating all our award winners from the annual awards.
Today we feature:
Rising Star Award – Emma Bessant: Emma began working at SWB as a domestic, before progressing to become to a band 7 sister over the course of a few years. She has recently taken over as senior sister on a struggling ward, bringing staff together with improved standards and morale and has improved the ward for colleagues and patients. Emma is described as always have a smile on her face, which can brighten up anyone’s shift. She is well respected and leads perfectly by example, the impact she has had in such a short amount of time is immeasurable.
Volunteer of the Year – Brian Guest: Brian has consistently supported our volunteer service, despite having a medical condition. He continually offers to go above and beyond to support with projects or kindly offers to take the lead. Brian has been working with our library service on the roll out of the ‘borrow box’ scheme – which allows patients to use iPads to read. Brian trained other volunteers in using the app to enable them to go onto the wards to support patients. Brian freely gives his time and knowledge and sees volunteering as his way of giving back to the trust and saying thank you for the care his wife received during some spent-on Sandwell ITU.
Learner of the Year – David Cartwright: David has dedicated his last three years completing the scientist training programme specialising in respiratory, which he completed in September 2023. David spent his first year rotating between specialisms completing competencies and organised himself extremely well, considering the impact of COVID-19. His second and third years were spent within respiratory physiology, building his clinical knowledge and skills across a broad range of diagnostic tests. During this time, he participated in several MDT’s, building working relationships across respiratory. He always throws himself into teaching fellow colleagues and demonstrates excellent teaching skills both on a one to one and within a group setting. David has been completely committed to ensuring his academic work excels and performed continuously at a high standard while completing his university modules, including the completion of an audit. He has also presented at an annual conference for the Association for Respiratory Technology and Physiology.
Partnerships with the Community Award – Jayne Salter-Scott and the Youth Forum and Angela Arnold:
Jayne has been instrumental in gaining traction to implement and gain membership of SWB Youth Forum, offering the young people who attend an approachable, friendly space and encouraging them to be participants in various activities each month. She encourages them to set their own agenda and even lead meetings. The young people who attend each month have shown great commitment to the Trust by attending monthly for three hours each time and are assisting us to think about how young people, inclusive of those with disabilities, experience our services. They are insightful and brave, never shying away from telling us how it is in a respectful and compassionate manner. The success of the forum has led to organisations in the region approaching us to establish how we have created such enthusiasm for the Youth Forum; this is testament to the Youth Forum members’ ambition to make a difference and Jayne’s ability to walk alongside them as they co-design a forum they want to be part of.
Angela has single-handedly set up a substance misuse service within maternity services for SWB women, linking in with other services both internal and external to streamline care. Angela will case load these women, going above and beyond to help them maintain engagement with all services to improve outcomes for the women and babies. She accompanies them to antenatal clinic appointments for support, as well as delivering a training session to staff each month regarding substance misuse and pregnancy. Angela is women focused and so empowering to some of our most vulnerable women and she goes about it with no recognition for her achievements. She is always there to offer advice, support and management planning.