HEARTBEAT November 2020

Trust shortlisted for four top awards
in prestigious event
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
We are delighted after being
shortlisted for four gongs in
a prestigious national awards
ceremony. Three teams and Dr Sarb
Clare have been named finalists in
the HSJ Awards 2020.
Dr Clare, Acute Medical Consultant
and Deputy Medical Director, is up for
Clinical Leader of the Year. The alcohol
care team is recognised in the Acute
Sector Innovation of the Year category,
the sustainability team is shortlisted for
the Environmental Sustainability Award,
whilst the communications team is a
finalist in the NHS Communications
Initiative of the Year Award.
All four will find out if they have won in
a ceremony held in March 2021.
Dr David Carruthers, Acting Chief
Executive, said: “The HSJ Awards is a
very prestigious event and I am delighted
that three of our teams and Dr Clare are
recognised for their innovative work.
“The work of the alcohol care team has
continued throughout the pandemic,
Dr Sarb Clare, the alcohol team and Fran
Silcocks
caring for people who need crucial support for
alcohol misuse. They have introduced several
innovative ways of working which has led to
patients not needing to attend hospital for
treatment or the length of their stay reducing
dramatically.
“Meanwhile, the work of the communications
team to promote the Trust going smoke-free
ensured not only our staff but also patients
and visitors were well aware of the new ban
in place. Materials were produced in foreign
languages and, the publicity resulted in
worldwide media coverage, with other UK
Trusts contacting the team so they could
learn how we successfully implemented the
restriction.
“Dr Clare’s work around wellbeing, as well
as women empowerment of her colleagues,
shows true leadership. She introduced
energy pods, which led to a significant
improvement in psychological, physical
health as well as the ability to manage stress
for doctors. It is just one of many initiatives
she has introduced into the Trust and was
recently recognised in the Queen’s Birthday
Honours list, having received an MBE.
“It is also fantastic news that many of
our environmentally-friendly schemes
are recognised, contributing to the clean
air agenda across the West Midlands. It
included introducing electric car charging
points, a car sharing scheme and cycle lanes
across sites. The Trust has demonstrated
our commitment to forming a greener and
more sustainable workplace.”
Dr Carruthers added: “This year has been
extremely challenging due to the pandemic,
so news of our services and staff getting
recognition for their achievements is
extremely welcome.”
It's top prize for environmentallyfriendly
travel plan
The Trust has scooped a top award
for its environmentally-friendly
travel plan which is working to
reduce the amount of staff driving
to work.
We won the ‘contribution to sustainable
travel by an organisation’ gong, for our
work around introducing more cycle
lanes, cycle parking, implementing a car
share scheme with Faxi, and installing
electric vehicle charging points.
The Trust was recognised in the
Modeshift National Sustainable Travel
Awards, which took place virtually.
Earlier this year, we achieved Bronze
accreditation from Modeshift for the
travel plans.
Fran Silcocks, Sustainability Officer, who
contributed to the travel plan, said: “We
are honoured and extremely pleased to
be recognised in this way for the work
we are doing around sustainability. We
have been going over and above in our
efforts to reduce driving to our sites and
Fran Silcocks, Sustainability Officer
have put in place several environmentallyfriendly
initiatives.
“We have significantly more electric vehicle
charging points being installed shortly and are
working with local public transport providers
to offer discounted travel for our staff.
“By introducing the travel plan, the Trust
demonstrates our commitment to forming
a greener and more sustainable workplace.
A big part of our goal is looking at the way
staff travel and making it easier and better for
people to choose walking, cycling, public
transport, low emission vehicles or car
sharing rather than travelling individually
by car.
“As a health care provider, we have a duty
of care to advocate improvements in air
quality and are committed to positively
contributing towards this. We look forward
to working with our local authorities to
improve air quality.”
The Trust’s travel plan sets out objectives to
reduce the dependence of staff on travel by
private car, including:
• Promote sustainable and active modes
of travel
• Advocate means of travel that are
beneficial to the health of those
working at or visiting the site
• Minimise car travel in the area
surrounding the site, cutting down on
associated costs (including
environmental, financial and health)
• Reduce car parking pressures.
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