Staff members, teams and volunteers from Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) were celebrated for their outstanding achievements at a glittering awards ceremony on Friday (11 October 2024) evening.
The annual Celebrating Excellence Awards, sponsored by headline sponsor Tilbury Douglas and award category sponsors, HCRG Care Group and Browne Jacobson, brought together some of the Trust’s brightest stars to shine a light on their achievements over the last 12-months.
Hosted by Leicester presenter, singer and mental health advocate, Andy Pearce,
the evening saw staff, teams and volunteers presented with awards celebrating their extraordinary contribution to providing high quality, compassionate care and wellbeing for all – following nominations by members of the public, patients and service-users, carers, and colleagues.
Angela Hillery, LPT chief executive, said: “Our staff and volunteers consistently provide compassionate care, often going above and beyond for our patients and service users. These awards are our opportunity to thank them for their outstanding commitment to the people who use our services, to our LPT family, and to the NHS.”
Award winners, nominated from 13 categories, took to the stage to pick up trophies for their commitment to the Trust’s values of compassion, respect, integrity and trust.
The following awards were presented on the night:
Delivering Exceptional Care – presented to Ashok Bhawsar
Support worker, Ashok has been part of the mental health crisis team for many years, delivering exceptional patient centred care. His actions have directly resulted in more than one life being saved, due to him going above and beyond to check on patients, particularly when there were concerns for their safety. Ashok was described as being ‘a constant source of positivity and one of the nicest and most caring people’.
Excellence in Enabling Services award – presented to Jackie Moore and Steve Woodier
Jackie and Steve helped the Trust to save millions of pounds (£2m in 2023/24, rising to £4m in 2024/25), which is being reinvested in front line services. They did this by reviewing how the Trust uses its land and buildings, leading to reduced payments for capital land charges, all while ensuring high quality patient care was maintained.
Excellence in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion award – presented to Jessica Mhesuria
Senior dietitian, Jessica spearheaded a project to get evidence-based culturally accessible, nutritional information to ethnic and cultural communities, helping to prevent nutritional related conditions. She fronted the Your Healthy Kitchen campaign, which provided information on preparing healthy lunches, snacks and tips for eating on a budget. She also worked in the community with allotment groups, craft sessions and GPs to spread awareness of healthy eating and helped to deliver co-designed supermarket tours, and one to one and group cooking sessions.
Excellence in Leadership award – presented to Alpana Marwaha
Alpana, who is the adult mental health speech and language therapy (SALT) lead, was nominated for her pivotal role in developing the (SALT) Team, which provides a specialist support for adults with speech, language, communication and swallowing disorders. Alpana was celebrated for being a proactive leader and compassionate role model, always advocating for team members and helping to break down barriers relating to accessibility in the workplace.
Excellence in Partnerships award – presented to the LDA Collaborative Health Checks and Access to Primary Care Group
The work of the learning Disability Collaborative Health Checks and Access to Primary Care Group has led to more people with a learning disability than ever receiving a health check. The group worked tirelessly throughout 2023 to monitor the progress of completed health checks and used creative measures to ensure people received their health check, such as holding clinics in a mobile vaccination unit.
Excellence in Patient / Service User Involvement award – presented to Natalie Leggatt
Natalie ran a quality improvement project to support diabetic patients to manage their insulin levels independently and live well. She worked with one of her patients, Andrew Murtha, to produce a range of resources to help patients. As a result of their partnership, the Trust has adopted Natalie’s diabetes self-care pack and Andrew has gone on to become an LPT Patient Partner.
Excellence in Quality Improvement or Innovation award – presented to Denise Webbe, Jo Reade, Paula McKee, Oli Kyle and Alex Mantle
The team helped to produce a new game on the Health For Kids website called
Lunch Box Hero, designed to educate children about healthy packed lunches. The team, made up of school nurse, nutritionist and dietitian expertise, developed the fun and accessible game, which includes lots of different food options to cater to various cultural backgrounds. Since its launch last year, the game has been played 17,933 times and used by schools to promote healthy pack lunches.
Care navigator, Stephanie Bates, was also highly commended in this category for her work putting in place measures to improve outcomes for patients of the Looked After Children’s team.
Excellence in Research award – presented to Maria Dale and GUIDE-HD team .
Maria Dale and the GUIDE-HD team developed an innovative guided self-help programme to support people with Huntington’s Disease (HD); a genetic and progressive condition with no existing cure. Maria and her team successfully applied for an international grant to develop this work, ensuring they involved service users and other stakeholders. Their work went on to be published in multiple articles and shared at international conferences in the US and Europe.
Group Excellence award – presented to Kate Dyer and Richard Smith
Kate and Richard lead LPT and Northamptonshire Foundation Trusts’ corporate governance teams; their joint working and learning have ensured both organisations are well run. They helped to save the Trusts thousands of pounds through joint commissioning, as well as providing a consistent structure and learning opportunities, to ensure the each Trust provides safe, effective care.
Learner of the Year award – presented to Katherine Hawker
Children’s Speech and Language Therapist, Katherine was nominated for her quality improvement work, focussed on the communication needs of children with profound and multiple learning disabilities. Katherine collaborates with patients and their families to help ensure the best outcomes for patients.
Podiatry degree apprentice, Sally Green was also highly commended in this category, after successfully diagnosing a patient with a rare foot problem, resulting in their foot being saved from potential amputation.
Team of the Year award – presented to the Mental Health Neighbourhood Leads.
The Mental Health Neighbourhood Leads, formed team in 2023, have improved access to mental health support within local communities. The team helped to set up 25 neighbourhood mental health cafes across LLR, which support local people in mental health distress. They also oversee a grant scheme, Getting Help in Neighbourhoods, which has helped over 11,000 people. The team also work with faith organisations, help asylum seekers living in dispersal hotels and support people experiencing homelessness.
Unsung Hero award – presented to Joanne Applewhite
Joanne, who works as a medical secretary in the neuropsychology service, was nominated for her efficiency and commitment to working with patients, families and carers to ensure they are able to access the care they need. Her work has reduced incidents of patients not attending and was applauded for her compassionate and personal service.
Senior mental health practitioner, Laurette Grace and community integrated neurology and stroke service (CINSS) technical instructor Kirsty Lester were also highly commended in this category.
Volunteer of the Year award – presented to Jean Denyer
Jean became LPT’s first End of Life Champion at Rutland Memorial Hospital. She was nominated for leading a volunteer group that make items for end-of-life patients, such as embroidered hearts, blankets, seat belt cushions and pillowcases. She was also celebrated for supporting patients with specific requests, such as organising transport to church, and described as ‘truly inspirational’ and ‘constantly thinking of ways to make a difference’.
Angela added: “I’d like to thank our sponsors who made the evening possible – thank you to our headline sponsor Tilbury Douglas and award category sponsors, HCRG and Browne Jacobson and other sponsors CPC Drive in partnership with Tusker, Cubiquity and Taylors Florist.”