Staff and volunteers celebrated at awards ceremony

Outstanding teams and individuals working in NHS community services in Lincolnshire have been recognised for their dedication at this year's Celebrating Success Awards.

Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS) held their staff awards ceremony on Thursday, 17 November.

LCHS is proud of its staff and volunteers, whose dedication and commitment to delivering outstanding care makes a huge difference in the communities we serve.

The organisation recognises and commends these achievements through the Celebrating Success Awards.

A record 187 entries were received for teams, individuals and volunteers from across Lincolnshire for the 10 categories.

The award categories are closely aligned to the values that were developed with LCHS staff, which are articulated through the LCHS Way: we listen, we care, we act and we improve.

Amongst the winners were Bethany Searle and Rachel Stewart, who work in children’s therapy services and won the Innovation Award.

Bethany and Rachel created a new service for children with a severe anxiety disorder, called selective mutism. This is when a person is able to speak comfortably in some situations but unable to speak in certain social situations, such as with classmates at school or to relatives they do not see very often.

Selective mutism usually starts during childhood and, if left untreated, can persist into adulthood.

It has a significant impact on families and if left untreated can result in long term poor mental health. For many years there have been no services in Lincolnshire to support this anxiety disorder.

Bethany and Rachel showed dedication, determination and a passion to succeed in creating a service to provide advice, support and intervention for children suffering with selective mutism.

Patients received phone calls and video consultations alongside face-to-face visits to meet the needs of the families. Bethany and Rachel created a range of YouTube videos for families and educational settings to streamline the service.

Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with families reporting a great sense of relief that someone is listening to their needs and providing much needed support.

Bethany said: “We are thrilled to receive the Innovation Award and shocked too! It’s very emotional and we’re so happy.

“It’s really rewarding to give children and families a voice when they previously didn’t have one.”

The People’s Award winner, as voted for by the public, carers, patients and families was The Butterfly Hospice Trust nursing team.

A patient at the hospice in Boston said, they were amazed at the reception they received when they arrived. This patient also said the staff were first class. Their attention and nursing care could not have been better. All staff were kind, professional, and attentive and treated the patient like family.  

Jenna Mustill, from the Butterfly Hospice Nursing team was described as leading her team by demonstrating complete selflessness, tenacity and enduring optimism.

Jenna said: “It is really overwhelming. We appreciate just being nominated, so winning means the world to all our team.

“It’s such a privilege to do a job we love, to care for our patients and their loved ones.”

One of the winners of the Volunteer of the Year Award was Isabel Stroubos.

Isabel has thrown herself into her role in the Lincoln urgent treatment centre and helped LCHS to learn and improve the role of volunteers.

She has contributed over 100 hours in five months and received the National Volunteering Certificate and the 100 hours LCHS recognition certificate. Most importantly Isabel consistently shows extra care and kindness to our patients at a time when they really need it.

Isabel, a retired paediatric nurse and midwife, from Lincoln said: “I like volunteering as I want to give back to the community and help people.

“I was overcome to receive this award. It was a real surprise and it’s lovely to be appreciated.”

Elaine Baylis, LCHS Chair, said: "It is always a great pleasure to be involved in these awards and this year’s ceremony was extra special as we were finally able to celebrate at a face-to-face event.

“We would like to congratulate all finalists and this year's ceremony, as always, was clear evidence of how many teams, individuals and volunteers embody the LCHS Way and our values in their work.

“Celebrating Success is a wonderful opportunity for us to reflect and to recognise some of those teams, individuals and volunteers who are making a real difference to our patients every day.

“Thank you to our sponsors and the staff who helped make it a truly inspiring and memorable occasion."  

The 2022 winners were:

1. Patient Involvement and Experience Award

• Jasmine Day and Adam Hunt (Digital health)

2. Inclusion, Equality and Diversity         

• David Rimmington (Child Health)

3. Innovation Award

• Bethany Searle and Rachel Stewart (Therapy services)

4. Leader Award     

• Julie O'Rourke (Urgent community response)

5. Clinical Unsung Hero

• Frances Prescott (Urgent care)

6. Non-Clinical Unsung Hero      

• Steve Jackson (Urgent care)

7. Team of the Year Clinical        

• Lincolnshire Post-COVID Rehabilitation Service

8. Team of the Year Non-Clinical 

• Volunteering Services

9. Volunteer of the Year    

• Isabel Stroubos
• Jayne Curtis

10. People’s Award

• The Butterfly Hospice Trust nursing team (Collaborative Community Care)

11. Chair’s Award

• Jayne Ashby (Urgent Care)

To see the full list of finalists and winners go to www.lincolnshirecommunityhealthservices.nhs.uk/celebratingsuccess-2022