Award winners recognised at NHS celebration event

Published: 18 May 2023

Award winning local health and care staff were recognised last week (Thursday 11 May) at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust’s annual Our People celebration event.

The event, held at the Riviera International Centre in Torquay, saw winners of the organisation’s staff recognition schemes celebrated for their achievements. This included winners from the Our People awards, as well as the winners of the DAISY Award for nurses and midwives, and the My manager cares that I’m a carer carers’ support award.

Award winners in all categories from the previous year were invited to the event to celebrate their success. Guests enjoyed a dinner, followed by a disco where the well-deserved nominees and winners danced the night away.

The event was made possible thanks to generous sponsorship from Kier Construction, gbpartnerships group, Monkton House, Nevada Construction, Nviron and Totus Engineering.

The overall winners of two Our People awards were also announced as part of the celebration event; the Our People’s Choice award, and the People Partner award.

The Our People’s Choice award is awarded each year to a member of staff or a team which has provided outstanding or extraordinary care. Entries were shortlisted to a final six and almost a thousand people voted for their winner, which this year was the Paignton and Brixham intermediate care team. The team were nominated by a family after the support their son received following a serious road traffic collision:

Their nomination said: “Since his hospital discharge the intermediate care team have been second to none. They showed an understanding of the challenges he faced to return home and have done their upmost to address these and support and encourage him on his rehabilitation journey.”

The People Partner award recognises staff who have made a real difference to people’s lives. Josh Clemes and David Strangewood from Crown Services won the award this year for supporting a patient with autism who has a permanent ileostomy.

Their nomination story highlighted the impact of their work: “The support Josh and David give noticeably lightens the patient’s mood – they are more communicative and more likely to engage with any medical interventions. Together John and David go the extra mile to provide personalised care and support.”

Sir Richard Ibbotson, chair of Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We were all absolutely delighted to be able to hold an event that celebrated the contributions of just some of our incredible people at Torbay and South Devon.

“This is the first time we have been able to hold such an event since 2019 due to pandemic restrictions. Our people have responded tremendously to the challenges of the last three years and it has been a matter of deep regret for myself and my colleagues on the Board of Directors, that we have not been able to recognise our award winners as we would wish. This is why holding this event really matters to us.

“Congratulations to all of our winners, and thank you to all of our people who do incredible things each and every day. I would encourage everyone who has received excellent care or support from any of our people or our services to make a nomination for our people’s choice award. Who knows, your nominee may just be next year’s winner.”

Members of the public are able to submit nominations for next year’s Our People’s Choice award online at tsdft.uk/awards