Team and Employee of the Month – April 2019

Our Team of the Month Award for April really does celebrate the value of teamwork and working together, as we’ve not got just one winner but three!

The combined efforts of our e-Rostering team, Locum Booking and Nurse Bank teams (Flexible Workforce Department) were deservedly jointly nominated and judges agreed they should be our worthy winners.

It just goes to show that the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts.

The e-Rostering team was nominated by Therapy Coordinator, Community and Intermediate Care, Phil Wright, who said: “E-rostering was only introduced into Therapy Services relatively recently and many of us struggle to navigate it effectively.

“However, when we (frequently) contact the e-Rostering team for help they are unfailingly patient, polite and able to quickly resolve our issues. Special mention to Jay and Martin who I have had most contact with but all the team are absolutely first class in my experience. I am really appreciative of their support.”

The joint nomination for the e-Rostering Team, Locum Booking and Nurse Bank teams (Flexible Workforce Department) came from Flexible Workforce Services Manager, Rachel Pyrah.

Rachel said: “These teams have pulled together over the last three years to improve rosters, improve bank workers’ experience, increase recruitment to our internal nurse bank by over 30 per cent, reduce reliance on agency workers and reduce the annual agency spend by £9.4 million.

“By increasing our nurse bank we can help to improve patient experience by filling approximately 90 per cent of requested shifts with a bank nurse or healthcare assistant. Their work is not only about reducing spend. They have worked hard with the Chief Nurse’s team to improve and support roster production.

“They negotiate rates with agencies daily and ensure temporary workers, whether they are engaged via the bank or an agency, are fully complaint to work with us.

“I am extremely proud of the hard work, passion and dedication that each member of these three teams shows.

“They work by the Trust’s values as they care about filling shifts, improving rosters and therefore the work-life balance of our workforce. They value people by doing this and have also improved communication to bank staff and made them feel more of a team – and they certainly work as one team to strive for excellence.”

A further nomination came from Temporary Staffing Manager, Corinne Wood, who said: “The Locum Booking Team and Nurse Bank team have been placed together for two years and have become a well-established ‘working as one’ team. Over the two years both teams have worked tirelessly to improve on both agency and bank relationships.

“By having such close relationships with the agencies, the teams are able to successfully negotiate better rates for all agency cover from healthcare assistant posts to consultant cover.

“Both teams see any saving from 1p to £10 an hour as money saved with the saving being able to be used elsewhere in the Trust. With the extensive work that both teams have done over this year, we have successfully come under our annual agency spend by £200,000.”

Many congratulations to all three teams on a fantastic effort!

It’s always heart-warming to hear of staff who are true role models for our Trust and all we stand for, and that’s why it’s particularly pleasing for me to announce that April’s Employee of the Month is ICU Professional and Practice Development Nurse, Steve Anderson.

Steve was nominated by Occupational Health Manager, Michael Cockayne, for a number of reasons  – not least because of the integral role he played in our latest winter flu campaign in which he earned the nickname of ‘Flu Man’ from some colleagues.

Michael said: “Steve is a shining example of someone who puts his heart and soul into his role, making himself available for others, and is a fantastic example of what a nurse should be.

“He made a massive contribution to the flu campaign, administering hundreds of vaccines to colleagues and, again, made himself available for questions about flu and was instrumental in the Trust achieving the CQUIN target (the bonus we receive for achieving designated targets.)

“Steve is a role model for many within our Trust, is generous with his time and knowledge, and is highly regarded among his peers, including the ICU team.

“Sometimes it is not one or two special achievements that make an individual stand out, but rather the consistency of someone’s attitude and desire to make a difference. This is why Steve truly deserves to be rewarded by winning Employee of the Month.”

Steve was presented with his certificate by our Director of HR, Pat Campbell, who managed to catch him totally by surprise.

“They told me I had to attend a staff meeting,” joked Steve, who added that he was thrilled to be recognised in this way.

Steve joined our trust in 1993 as an enrolled nurse in ICU, coming to Yorkshire from his native Lanarkshire in Scotland after meeting his wife, a “Yorkshire lass”, on holiday in Greece.

“I feel incredibly loyal to the Trust because it’s the Trust that has supported me along the way, through my diploma and my degree. I’ve been involved in a lot of projects and I’ve also seen a lot of changes at the Trust during my years here. I’ve stayed at BTHFT because it’s small enough for the Chief Executive and the Chief Nurse to know you personally by name but also big enough to be interesting.

“It’s a great wee place to work and I would recommend it to anybody. Thank you for the award. I’m delighted!”

Well done, Steve – truly deserved!