Staff Excellence Awards - Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care ...

Staff Excellence Awards
Above and Beyond
Awarded to an individual or team who have found themselves going ‘Above and Beyond’ the
call of duty, either regularly or on a single occasion.
Winner:
Clair Vine, Client Services Manager, Little Brook
Hospital, Dartford
Clair’s personality and approach to teamwork consistently
demonstrates she has the best interest of the patients at heart at all
times.
For example, her work to ensure patients’ dignity and selfconfidence
is maintained at all times is clearly demonstrated by the
system she has put in place to ensure toiletry packs are accessible to
all newly admitted clients.
The focus on clients at Christmas and Easter, by working with local
businesses to ensure patients have gifts, is another example of Clair
going Above and Beyond her duty. Her availability to clients, no
matter what the situation or time of day, makes her a worthy winner
of this award.
As Clair points out, “If you have to keep revisiting a patient to build
a rapport or sit on the floor with them to help gain their trust, it is
worth putting in every effort!”
Runner up: Kevan Dunne, Support Time Recovery Worker,
George Villa
Kevan’s dedication to the Early Intervention/Charlton Athletic Football
club client programme has already helped improve confidence, selfesteem,
and general outlook for many of the service’s clients.
This summer, Kevan proposed a widening of the programme
beyond football to include fishing, graffiti art, urban dance and
DJ’ing. To make this idea work, Kevan has had to juggle running the
programme alongside his OT training commitments (in the second
year of a four-year part time degree), and has undertaken extra
training off his own back to ensure the success of the programme.
Taking stock of all this work Kevan says, “It’s been worth every
hour to see clients looking happier and more confident every week
and transferring their new found interests/skills into their lives outside
the service.” Kevan would also like it to be known that he’s actually a
Gillingham fan!
Highly commended: Charley Melville, Social Worker,
Sittingbourne Memorial Hospital
Charley’s story occurred at the end of an out-of-hours shift and
lasted until the early hours of the following day, when one of her
service users was threatening to take their own life.
With Charley’s assistance, the client was finally persuaded to stop
their actions and allow the emergency services to help them. After
the incident, the police told Charley that they believe there would not
have been a positive outcome without her perseverance and
commitment in what was an extremely intense situation. Now the
service user involved in the incident is recovering well, and when they
say to Charley, “You saved my life”, they really do mean it.
16 Kent & Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust Partnership Matters December 2008