We Are UHS Champions award winners 2023
Staff from across University Hospital Southampton (UHS) were honoured during a special evening of celebration on 11 October 2023 at the Trust’s annual awards ceremony.
The event, held at the Hilton based at the Ageas Bowl, saw colleagues recognised for their outstanding contribution and dedication to patient care, innovation and teamwork over the past year.
UHS chief executive David French and chief nursing officer Gail Byrne hosted the We Are UHS Champions ceremony, which saw a total of 21 awards presented to individuals and teams across 14 categories.
These included inspirational innovator, team of the year, patient outcome award and patient safety award, as well as special recognition awards from the chief executive and Chair of UHS.
Find out about the winners below.
Winner - Kate Raney
“For the past 2 years Kate has been dedicated to improving the experience of women and their families experiencing caesarean birth under general anaesthetic. Kate has sought advice from lived experience users, the Maternity Voice Partnership, and our psychology colleagues to develop suitable resources for these families”.
Nominated by Rhea Hampton
Winner - Kirsty Heelan
“Through Kirsty’s hard work, we have seen some amazing results.
She has worked extensively with the diabetes team, ward leads, matrons and education staff to improve the system and help identify areas of training needs for the BGM.”
Nominated by William Rivenberg, Paula Johnston, Ricky Figgins, Dr Mayank Patel and Paul Cook
Winner - Mariama Kabia
“Mari encompasses all UHS Trust Values effortlessly... she supports all teams involved in the patient’s stay at hospital, from advising the nurses and HCA teams on the ward to creating and implementing enhanced care observation plans”.
Nominated by Emily Wright
Winner - BMT care coordinators (Samantha Sizer, Sunita Verma, Ruth Henshaw, Kelly Lanaghan)
“The BMT Care Coordinators have an enormous impact on the clinical team - supporting the service in delivering not just outstanding clinical outcomes but also the best possible patient care. They may not be visible to many, however they contribute hugely to our patient outcomes, are essential for patient safety, patient experience and to the Wessex BMT and Cellular Therapy programme”.
Nominated by Sara Main
Winner - Zoe Moore
“Zoe is a one in a million nurse that we would be lost without. She goes above and beyond to help and support children and young people with learning disabilities and their families to have an improved outcome when visiting UHS. The feedback that Zoe receives from staff, patients and their families is exceptional. ”
Nominated by Tracy Mahon
Winners - Caroline Gardiner and Humera Fayyaz
“Caroline has taken on the new role as the gynae patient pathway navigator and, working together with Dr Humera Fayyaz, they have introduced triage to the gynae 2WW pathway and improved diagnostics, achieving targets and breach times. They have individualised the approach to patient care and improved communication”.
Nominated by Mel Beck
Winners - Patrick Tapley, Dinnish Mani and CEPOD team
“Patrick and Dinnish have championed improvement within the CEPOD service. leading to increased efficiencies and reduced delays for patients. They and the team are always keen to improve and have implemented a holding bay to improve quality of staff and patient experience. They have also introduced an AM huddle to support prioritisation which has led to 21 extra lists starting before 8.45. They are open and willing to try new things.”
Nominated by Ross Cahill
Winners - Haemostasis Laboratory Team
“ADAMTS13 tests were previously sent to a London hospital for testing and results took 3 days...a business case, feasibility study and validation was completed so that the department was in a position to offer the ADAMTS13 test onsite with results available in a matter of hours. From implementation to availability took just over one month which is phenomenal.”
Nominated by Linda Sayburn
Winners - Hannah Foxley and Anna Howlett
“Over the past year, Hannah & Anna have been the driving factor in implementing single handed care (SHC) within UHS and local community teams. They have gathered and analysed data, attended regional and national meetings, and written a business case for a SHC service at UHS. They have provided SCH training for UHS, other community teams and care agencies, empowering them to confidently continue with the change in culture. ”
Nominated by Jenny Swinn
Winner - Education Division B
“Education Team Division B over the past year has created and delivered education courses and events which were not only innovative in their content, but also in their method of delivery or approach. The team has helped and inspired hundreds of employees in the Trust to pursue their career goals by discovering their talent, improving their knowledge and expanding their vision.”
Nominated by Laszlo Penzes
Winners - Lorena Caruana and Helen Dewar
“As well as being champions for the patients on the unit, Lorena and Helen are heavily involved in the development and wellbeing of the team. They support staff by organising training and are the first to offer help to others. They support the wider team to deliver high quality care to their patients.”.
Nominated by Jade Burns
Winner - John Norton
“John collaborates with many different teams...supporting recruitment panels, empowering R&R colleagues in other divisions and championing equality, inclusion and diversity; ensuring that job descriptions use inclusive language and taking into account those candidates who might have a disability. John is a star and an asset to the Trust”.
Nominated by Sara White and Melissa Kamenica
Winner - Laura Presland
“No matter seniority or banding Laura is always willing to dedicate her time to listening to her team’s ideas, reflecting on their suggestions, creating a culture of openness and trust, where her team know they will be listened to and their opinions valued. She is simply the best.”
Nominated by Gavin Babbage
Winner - Fiona Topp
“Fiona never fails to deliver. She is always available to help even when operational demands within the department are fully stretched... Fiona is professional at all times, she is aware of individuals and how they are feeling and will always check in on the welfare of colleagues. She is attentive, very approachable and actively encourages colleagues to excel.”
Nominated by Tracy Silsbury
Winner - Ward E2
“The team is inclusive of all its staff, and every team member feels valued and celebrating their achievements. E2 have undertaken a huge project to improve care for patients with learning disabilities and autism which has enabled one of our staff to work 1 day a week with the hospital learning disability team.”
Nominated by Katharine Baker
Winner - Adult safeguarding team
“This team is hard working, knowledgeable and compassionate. They are always available to staff for support and reflective practise. The environment is inclusive and supportive and colleagues feel settled and empowered to progress professionally.”
Nominated by Samantha Spreadbury
Winner - Katrina Cathie
“Following successful treatment of breast cancer Katrina has gone on to create to the Autumn Ball (2023) and has motivated more than 30 of her friends, colleagues and family to take part in the London to Brighton Cycle challenge in September 2023. Additionally, her partner Jonathan, also took part in the London Marathon in October 2022 raising over £8,000 for the fund...with the planned future events it is anticipated Katrina’s fundraising will have exceeded £50,000 by the end of 2023!”
Nominated by Southampton Hospitals Charity
Winner - Adrian (Ady) Marks
“Ady is a tireless volunteer for the Oasis League of Friends café/ shop on F Level, West Wing. His passion, enthusiasm and commitment to the role are always evident. In celebration of the NHS’ anniversary, we asked new and existing volunteers to pledge 75 volunteering hours. Ady was one of the first to sign up for it. Not only that, he was the first volunteer to achieve it. It’s a privilege to have him here volunteering at the hospital”
Nominated by Fiona Kidd
Winner - F4 spinal unit nurses, HCAs and physios
“By its very nature this is a challenging ward to work on with many patients in a lot of pain and going through life changing injuries. Without fail, the team worked with care, compassion and understanding towards all patients in our bay. They also put me at the centre of decisions relating to my care and rehabilitation - I always felt involved. Most of all, though, they were incredibly kind to everyone, worked as a team and did their best at all times!”
Nominated by F4 patient
Winner - Nomalanga Bhebhe
“Noma has been transformational since joining the maternity patient safety team; her organisation and preparation of cases for review has enabled us to undertake reviews to a higher standard in a timely way. With her support we are now able to collect information on deprivation, ethnicity and other factors to better understand our themes from incidents.”
Nominated by Hannah Leonard
Winner - Karen Bent
“Karen has been a senior healthcare assistant in orthopaedic outpatients for over 11 years. She makes time to help all the patients in her care. She shows a particular aptitude for supporting those patients with mental health issues or learning difficulties. She treats the patients how everyone would like to be treated. She is our department’s Super Woman!”
Nominated by Naomi Wallace