LPT provides community health, mental health, and learning disability services across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. The annual Celebrating Excellence awards are an opportunity to highlight and celebrate examples of innovation and excellence across the Trust over the last year, recognising the
huge contribution made by staff and volunteers to ensure the highest standards of care.

This year, a record-breaking 252 nominations were received from members of staff, service users and the wider public across 13 award categories, from which 38 were shortlisted. The winners were selected by a judging panel comprising directors, staff representatives, Trust members and service users.

Chief executive, Dr Peter Miller said “Our staff and volunteers are our greatest asset, demonstrating care and compassion on a daily basis. These annual awards are our opportunity to say thank you for that outstanding commitment – to our service users, to the Trust, and to the NHS – in its 70th year.
It’s been a really busy year, and a challenging one for many of our areas of work. I know that despite the challenges and pressures, staff have continued to work hard and have been committed to improving our services and delivering the best quality care. We have much to be proud of. These awards are a
testament to that.”

Some 150 guests attended the event, which was held at the Mercure Grand Hotel in Leicester. HCL Workforce Solutions generously acted as headline sponsors, and a number of other organisations sponsored individual awards.

Below is an outline of all the winners in each category.

Delivering Exceptional Care Award

Winner – Natasha Macleod – children’s occupational therapist
(families, young people and children’s services)
See the nomination video here

Natasha was nominated for working with a teenager with a severe
disability who wanted to be able to feed himself. She accessed charities
and overcame language barriers to help the patient reach their goal.

Excellence in Partnerships Award
Winner – Pro-active Vulnerability Engagement (PAVE) team (adult
mental health and learning disability services)
See the nomination video here
The Proactive Vulnerability Engagement (PAVE) team is made up of
professional experts from across three agencies to help those who
frequently use emergency services. The team work collaboratively to
provide quality care which enables the best outcome for the service user.
Their support is often life changing and frees up the emergency services
for other priorities. The partnership has helped to reduce the number of
police incidents and admissions, has seen a reduction in the number of
days spent in a mental health unit and has also made financial savings.

Excellence in Innovation or Research Award
Anita Kilroy-Findley – tissue viability clinical lead (community health
services)
See the nomination video here
As lead nurse for the tissue viability service, Anita recognised that
Biofilm formation is a key contributor to delayed healing in 90% of
chronic wounds. Recognising the importance of this and the profound
effect healing ulcers could have on patient lives, she worked to make
improvements. One patient, who once had a chronic wound which
caused constant social isolation, said that Anita’s work help to
put her ‘back in control’.

Excellence in Inclusion Award
Winner – Dino Moeketsi – mental health practitioner (adult mental
health and learning disability services)
See the nomination video here
Dino’s nominee stated that he has an ‘exceptional ability to engage with
patients from a range of ethnic backgrounds, who have severe and
enduring mental health and do not want to engage with our services.’

Team of the Year Award
Winner – CAMHS Eating Disorder Team (Families, Young People
and Children’s Services)
See the nomination video here
The CAMHS eating disorder team were nominated for “going above and
beyond to ensure the wellbeing of each other and their service users and
families, which is reflected in their consistently high friends and family
test scores.” They also strive to improve access, having notably
improved referrals from black and minority ethnic communities by 11%
through focused work on addressing the barriers they faced.

Volunteer of the Year Award
Winners – Anneka Weston, Will Read and Emma Munday – peer
facilitator volunteers for the Bipolar psycho-education group (adult
mental health and learning disability services)
See the nomination video here

Anneka Weston, Will Read and Emma Munday have been an integral
part of initiating the new bipolar psycho-education programme at the
Leicestershire Recovery College. The success of the programme would
not have been possible without their input; increasing the knowledge and
empowerment of others with bipolar disorder using their own experience.

Young Talent of the Year Award
Winner – Polly Waits – learning disabilities physiotherapist (adult
mental health and learning disability services)
See the nomination video here
Polly’s nominee stated that she is an “enthusiastic, hardworking member
of the learning disability physiotherapy team.” She is always keen to
contribute to service development, and has been instrumental in making
the learning disability physiotherapy assessment process leaner and
more efficient. She’s worked her way up from being an apprentice.

Unsung Hero of the Year Award
Winner – Nexhmi Cera – medical secretary (community health
services)
See the nomination video here
Nexhmi stepped out of her day-to-day role to dedicate herself full time for
three months to essential data cleansing work for the memory service.
Despite the demands of the task, she remained enthusiastic and showed
outstanding commitment, and as a result, the service can now report
more accurate data with confidence.

Valued Star of the Year Award
Winner – Ajamina Kassim – health care support worker (adult mental
health and learning disability services)
See the nomination video here

Ajamina was nominated for being dedicated to the care of all patients,
including one instance where she went above and beyond to ensure one
particular patient could return home in what seemed an impossible
situation. She worked tirelessly, not only to help get the patient discharge ready, but also helped with clear-outs, home visits, appointments and
shopping where others were not able, so the patient could be discharged
to a safe environment.

Excellence in Leadership Award
Caroline Barclay – nurse consultant, advanced practice (community
health services)
See the nomination video here
Caroline was nominated for leading a team of advance nurse
practitioners, with one of these saying that she has seen the team
“expand and develop from strength to strength under the inspirational
leadership of Caroline” and that Caroline is a “first class leader”.

Excellence in Learning Award
Alyson Borley – community hospital bed manager (community
health services)
See the nomination video here
Alyson supports our 12 community hospital wards and intensive
community support service, to safely and effectively discharge patients.
As part of this role she identifies discharge planning and development
needs of staff. This has included the development of an e-learning
module and working flexibly to provide bespoke training for a number of
staff.

Excellence in Improving Staff Health and Wellbeing Award (NEW)
Winner – Carol Yates – community psychiatric nurse (adult mental
health and learning disability services)
See the nomination video here
With a passion and wealth of knowledge around yoga, mindfulness and
personal wellbeing, Carol took on the mantle to lead staff wellbeing, coordinating
a programme of events that were mutually agreed by the team
and developing a wellbeing board. This was embraced by the team,
causing a real ‘buzz’ and creating a healthy and supportive work
environment.

Excellence in Enabling Services Award
Winner – Amrik Singh and workforce systems (enabling services)
See the nomination video here
Amrik and the workforce systems team were nominated for their work in
improving health rostering, including co-ordinating the use of temporary
staffing, and supporting the development of local guidance for prebooking
annual leave.

Full videos for all shortlisted nominees are available upon request.
Media interviews and photos can be arranged for any of the winners.
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