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The exceptional dedication and achievements of our corporate services colleagues were recognised at our third Royal Free London (RFL) Oscars awards.
The event was hosted by Robert Prince, managing director of group corporate services, with Peter Landstrom, group chief executive; Gillian Smith, chief medical officer; Emma Kearney, chief communications officer and senior information risk owner; Ravi Baghirathan, chief transformation officer; and Julie Hamilton, chief nurse, joining him to celebrate the achievements of staff.
Colleagues were awarded across 13 categories with numerous examples of individuals and teams making a positive difference for our patients and each other over the past twelve months. Many of the nominees are contributing to the trust's new clinical strategy, which you can read about on our website.
Robert Prince reflected on the last year of achievements and progress in his opening remarks, which included the trust’s record-breaking annual staff survey response rate, launching the new RFL website, making strides in reducing food waste, expanding our corporate shared services partnership, and the nursing and midwifery workforce team who were named ‘best for innovation in recruitment’ at the NHS England London Healthcare Support Worker awards.
“Each year I look forward to this event where we take the time to celebrate your outstanding achievements. We received 890 nominations from across the trust, of which 131 were for staff and teams working in corporate services. That’s even more than last year and I’m inspired by all these stories of how you are making a difference to our patients and each other, which just goes to show what a fantastic team we have”, he said.
The winners of each site event will be invited to the group wide RFL Oscars taking place at the Emirates Stadium on 18 July, along with winners from other sites, where an overall group prize will be given for every category.
Continue reading to learn more about the winners and their achievements.
Non-clinical team of the year
Winner: Accommodation services
Runner up: Royal Free Hospital portering team
The accommodation services team has helped welcome more than 500 international nurses to the trust in the past two years, planning for their arrivals and helping to find accommodation. This has meant sourcing places to live from other housing providers in London to ensure these new recruits have a good and affordable place to live on arrival. Their efforts have contributed towards excellent recruitment and retention of nurses. They also work with our clinical teams to find accommodation for patients and have booked over 7,600 nights at the Pears building and local hotels for patients attending vital treatments at the Royal Free Hospital.
The team provide exemplary customer service to our staff, clinical teams and patients, and live the trust values each day.
Clinician of the year
Winner: Patricia Ighomereho, head of clinical services, occupational health
Patricia is an inspiration and an absolute delight to work with. In the past year she has pulled together teams to design and deliver an occupational health service to seven organisations within north central London. This has been a massive challenge which she has met with grace and aplomb. From paper records to legacy systems and mobile services, she has not only kept the occupational health service functioning, but she’s helped it to thrive.
Chairman’s leadership award
Winner: Rani Buskell, group programme management office operations manager
Runner up: Jenny Platt, associate director of transformation
Rani has consistently raised the standards of the management of the group’s priority programmes of work through her compassionate, clear, flexible and expert guidance. She offers valuable support to others but is never afraid to respectfully challenge, in the name of improvement.
Her colleagues said: “Rani is a pleasure to work with; I know that the team and anyone else that Rani has worked with would agree and would be delighted to recognise her in this way.”
Outstanding contribution to research award
Winner: Thrive LDN, part of Transformation Partners in Health and Care
Runners up: Tamsin Callaghan, involvement and inclusion manager, research and development; and Clinical Research Facility team
Thrive LDN has established two major research partnerships in the past year, leveraging £15 million of investment for research into public mental health and showcasing the RFL as a global exemplar bringing together practice, policy and academia. These partnerships will improve population health by bringing together world-leading data researchers, anthropologists, ethnographers, people with lived experience and diverse communities, while maintaining direct ties to national decision-makers and policy forums.
Outstanding contribution to patient safety award
Winner: Rachael Brady, clinical practice group (CPG) programme manager for medicine and urgent care
Runner up: Legal services team
Rachael has been instrumental in the CPG programme since it began in 2017, supporting over 16 pathways across all hospital sites. Known for her attention to detail, her work has resulted in significant improvements for many patients including those with heart failure, diabetes and asthma and a reduction in mortality rates at the trust.
Her colleagues said: “It is very difficult to articulate the respect and trust we all have in her.”
Royal Free Charity supporter of the year
Winner: Stephanie Murray, CPG programme manager
Stephanie has supported the Royal Free Charity by raising funds to directly impact care of the elderly. She completed the London Marathon this year in four hours and 59 minutes, raising £1500 for her efforts.
Clinical team of the year
Winner: the infection prevention and control team
The infection prevention and control team is integral to the successful running of the trust, monitoring infections and implementing measures to ensure patients and staff are safe. They go out of their way to help staff keep their learning up to date and colleagues describe them as a ‘wonderful’ ‘family’ team who are very important in saving lives.
Living our values
Winner: Matilda Patterson, clinical dementia specialist
Runner up: Reyon Yan
Matilda’s colleagues shared numerous examples of how she lives our values from her incredibly kind and compassionate nature to her patient-centred care. She is committed to ensuring patients with dementia receive the highest quality of care, taking the time to listen and find out what is important to them and their family or carers. She can often be heard singing or playing music to help calm patients or on the hunt for some particular food or activity that will help them to feel more at ease.
Her colleagues said: “She has done an amazing job of establishing the role of a clinical dementia specialist, we’re not sure how we managed before.”
Quality improvement and efficiency
Winner: Zjan Shirinian, head of digital engagement
Runners up: Action on DNAs project team; and Tamsin Callaghan, involvement and inclusion manager R&D
Zjan has been fundamental in improving patient access to our services through working closely with our patients and clinical teams to introduce a brand new trust website. We now have a comprehensive, futureproofed site, which is accessible, user-friendly and showcases the breadth of services that the trust provides. His attention to detail is unparallelled and his calm nature was unruffled by the many challenges along the way, working closely with his team to find solutions and achieving high standards of quality throughout the project.
Shining star award
Winner: Stephanie Murray, CPG programme manager
Runners up: Lena Gunnarsson, head of business support, transformation and service development; and Carrin Rhodes, cancer services multi-disciplinary team tracker
Stephanie has been integral to the success of the frailty and advanced care planning clinical practice group pathway. She has supported frailty teams across all sites with the development of the service, helping to achieve a reduction in average length of stay for frailty patients at Barnet Hospital, Royal Free Hospital and North Middlesex University Hospital.
Non-clinical employee of the year
Winners: (In order below: Zara Airey, senior HR business partner; Tushar Gadhia, digital endpoint team manager; and Jay Sandoy, facilities service assistant)
Zara has led on numerous staff consultations in the past year and is just about to do her biggest one yet through our proposed merger with North Mid. These can be intense processes, but she has tirelessly navigated them, responding calmly and compassionately to queries and supporting and engaging with staff during what can be an anxious time. She is a consummate professional with the most in-depth subject matter expertise who delivers and shares her knowledge freely with engagement and enthusiasm.
Tushar winner is pivotal in not just meeting project deadlines but in innovating and pushing boundaries to achieve excellence beyond our targets. His leadership and technical expertise have significantly advanced our digital initiatives and his generous nature has created a positive, supportive work environment that encourages innovation and teamwork. Colleagues said that “his actions have greatly enhanced our team's morale and efficiency, making a lasting impact on our collective success and workplace culture”.
Jay is in charge of the smooth running of the hospital overnight, cleaning and decontaminating areas to provide a safe environment for our patients. He is a smart thinker, able to change the way he works to deliver efficiencies for his department, including a commode decontamination programme at no extra cost which has also helped to reduce cases of Cdiff by 27%. He works tirelessly out of the limelight, on his own and is a true unsung hero whose dedication is second to none.
Outstanding contribution to education award
Winners: (In order below) The nurse education team and the Withstand programme project team
The nurse education team are enthusiastic, passionate and committed to excellence, producing high quality teaching that is evidence based, up to date and continuously evaluated. They have developed a healthcare support worker level 2 apprenticeship to address the difficulties of recruiting and retaining healthcare assistants, helping to attain our recent ‘Good’ rating by Ofsted for our provision of apprenticeships.
The Withstand programme project team supports black, Asian and minority ethnic staff develop their careers and overcome the racism they may face. More than 60 members of staff have completed the programme which aims to celebrate the diversity of our colleagues and help people achieve their goals
Celebrating diversity award
Winner: The Withstand programme project team
Runner up: Sutopa Sen, Freedom from Racism lead
The Withstand programme project team were recognised again for their ongoing efforts to encourage career progression at the RFL.
Our staff Oscars awards recognise the amazing dedication of colleagues across the trust. All our staff play an important role in caring for our patients which is a key part of our new clinical strategy. You can read more about our plans on our website.
