Radar Healthcare’s Champion Awards 2022 – the winners!
15 December 2022
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We had some absolutely incredible nominations for our Champion Awards this year, giving our judges a very tough job in picking the winners. Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter; we have enjoyed reading through all the amazing and inspiring reasons you chose your champion.
We’re also extremely excited to announce that together we have raised over £1,000 for both the NHS Charities Together and The Care Workers Charity! A massive thank you to everyone who contributed with their entries.
As we approach the end of 2022, it’s been exciting to look back and see how far the Health and Social Care sector has come, so without further ado, it’s time to crown Radar Healthcare’s Champion Award Winners 2022…
Healthcare Champion of the Year – Cambridge Access Surgery, nominated by Joanne Howard
Cambridge Access Surgery (CAS), a GP practice for people experiencing homelessness, and a co-founding partner of the Cambridge Homelessness Impact Research Network.
CAS has been recognised for revolutionising healthcare access in the last year by introducing a variety of initiatives for their service users. Some examples include:
- Introducing the ‘Winter Comfort Day Centre,’ a clinic for people who are homeless to attend weekly
- Working with Change Grow Live (CGL) to provide outreach services that use the Outreach Bus in conjunction with Joint Substance Abuse Clinics and a CGL Recovery worker
- Working in partnership with RECONNECT to improve the health outcomes of patients with complex needs who have been released from HMP Peterborough
- Cambridge Women’s Resource Centre – a COVID vaccination outreach clinic
- Working with the iCASH and CGL Heart team to explore the need for a tailored outreach clinic for vulnerable women
- Implemented the use of video consults with GPs and specialist nurses to increase access to services for people who are experiencing homelessness
The team consists of two GPs, two practice nurses, four receptionists, and one practice manager who go above and beyond on a daily basis to ensure that this vulnerable group of patients receives the best care possible.
Their incredible use of technology, community work, and fresh ways of working have helped improve health outcomes for their community in Cambridge. They are very worthy winners of the Healthcare Champion of the Year award.
Care Champion of the Year – Susan Fannan, nominated by Claire Brown
Susan is in charge of managing patients’ complex symptoms with their families at the Specialist Palliative Care team at Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Susan was named ‘Care Champion of the Year’ for excelling every day to make her patients feel comfortable and happy.
“We are very often faced with very difficult, challenging and sad cases. After all, this is why we are here. One such case was a very young woman with an 11-year-old that Sue had been seeing over days and weeks.”
“The lady was in a lot of physical and emotional pain and needed further chemotherapy. Sue spent many days and hours with this lady and her family; often leaving well past her finish time.”
“With the blessing of the lady’s family, Sue took it upon herself to take this lady outside on her bed one last time so she could feel the sun on her face.”
“She had a special moment with her husband outside where they communicated for the last time.”
“She also helped their son by locating memory boxes, items for making handprints, hearts, and teddy bears. Items that will mean the world to him.”
“Sue stepped up to the values of what Macmillan and specialist palliative care means and provided a holistic approach for both the patient and her family. It encompasses everything that we stand for. Her work has shone a light on her compassion as a person and as a professional, and she deserves recognition for this. These will be moments that the family will remember and cherish.”
NHS Champion of the Year – Yasmeen Akhtar, nominated by Walburgh Manhungira
Yasmeen, a Mental Wellbeing Midwife at the Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, has been recognised for supporting pregnant women and new mothers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Supporting those having Caesareans in theatres, as well as those who had difficult experiences.
As a result, she has received letters of gratitude from them and their families, who had limited access to the maternity wards during this time.
Yasmeen is also a trained wellbeing counsellor, guiding her patients throughout their pregnancies.
“Yasmeen is deserving of receiving this honour since she helps out colleagues and students, is very enthusiastic and imparts her knowledge to the entire team. She is brilliant to have on the team and deserves recognition for the work she does.”
Innovation Champion of the Year – Leila Worrall and Vanda McGibbon, nominated by Judy Walker
This year’s ‘Innovation Champion of the Year’ award has not one, but two winners.
Leila and Vanda from iTS Leadership have been recognised for pioneering the use of After Action Reviews (AAR).
AARs are used in organisations as a response to events where patient safety was put at risk. The AAR was recently recommended as one of the Learning Response Tools in NHS England. Leila and Vanda’s efforts have meant that over 50 AARs have taken place in the past 18 months, meaning that individuals, teams and organisations have been able to learn how to improve the treatment and care they provide.
“They are outstanding leaders of innovation in patient safety that is having a direct and lasting impact.” – Judy Walker
After becoming expert AAR Conductors, they began delivering advanced training to others, training a total of 80 staff in 12 months. They have also mentored new AAR Conductors and set up the infrastructure for staff to be able to call an AAR and learn more about it.
“Introducing a new way of responding to adverse events to an entire acute Trust is a major undertaking. They are always coming up with new ways to promote the approach and ensure that every AAR done within the company is of the highest quality and value.” – Judy Walker
Due to Leila and Vanda’s joint efforts, the AAR approach is now being used for low-harm events and in turn, preventing larger problems from arising.
“They deserve to be recognised for demonstrating what innovation looks like. The volume of requests to learn using AAR is accelerating. This is all remarkable, considering the short time scale in which this has happened. Leila and Vanda have really excelled.”
You can also read more on AAR’s in our blog here or listen to Judy on our podcast, What The HealthTech?
HealthTech Champion of the Year – Professor Oli Pearce, nominated by Joanne Turner
Oli has been recognised for advancing and advocating digital healthcare technology at Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Trust (MKUH) in collaboration with universities across the UK.
An example of this is his involvement in the Mymobility App; adapted and introduced to MKUH as the first outside of the USA. In addition, his involvement in the Walk AI project, which is the first in Europe to use AI interpretation of mobilisation to identify patients who are struggling with their rehabilitation and allow specific intervention to get them back on track.
In collaboration with the Open University, Oli also designed and refined the PainPad device, a hand-held device which allows self-monitoring by patients of their pain scores across the orthopaedic ward. This is being rolled out to other wards such as the specialist acute pain service. The team are also working to integrate the pain data with the patient’s electronic health record (e-care).
Furthermore, Oli has been working with manufacturing experts and drone specialists to research the use of drone flights for the transport of medical (pathology) samples between hospitals.
The long-term goal for these drone projects is to create a national network of drone systems for transporting transplant organs, pathology samples, blood transfusion units, chemotherapy preparations, and so on. It’s been a difficult project that required complex permissions.
A huge congratulations to all of our extremely worthy winners who are truly making a difference across health and social care every single day. Each of our Champions will receive a personalised glass trophy along with a hamper full of Christmas treats to celebrate their success!
