FROM a maternity team working well beyond what was expected to a staff nurse who accompanied a terminal patient to their wedding – the latest round of “Extra Mile” awards salutes the diversity of good work done across Wye Valley NHS Trust.

This week WVT confirmed its Extra Mile winners for March-April. They are:

Making an Outstanding Team Contribution – The Maternity team

Nominated for support shown to the unit over a time of “extreme activity” and case complexity that involved worked through until the early hours, even with commitments for the following day.
Maxine Chong came in when she was on annual leave, Di Finch had been on a course in Birmingham, Shirley Jones had worked a full
day only to return in the evening and Franca Lyddon and Zoe Wright were both called in from the Community.

Making an Outstanding Individual Contribution - Samantha Cooper, Head Audiologist

Commended for being an “amazing, wonderful and caring lady” by a young patient and his mother and specifically for going out of her way to sit through an appointment  with a young patient who was extremely scared and worried about a procedure.
The reassurance and support given by was appreciated by both the patient and his mother who felt she had more than gone an extra mile for them.

Making an Outstanding Individual Contribution - Hannah Williams, Staff Nurse

Nominated for giving “tremendous” nursing and psychological support to a young patient in the terminal stages of a lengthy battle with lymphoma.
She accompanied the patient to church so she could marry her long term partner and helped the special day be just that for the patient and her family.
Despite the difficult nature of the case, the citation says Hannah remained a “compassionate, effective and  supportive nurse” and a “great example to others”.

Making an Outstanding Individual Contribution - Heather Pardoe-Willliams, Sister, Emergency Department

Nominated for excelling in her role when in charge of evening shifts she faced several challenging decisions to help support the patient flow.
The citation commended Heather’s decision making as “superb” saying that without  her tenacity and awareness of the department and the workload, A&E would have incurred  breaches.
Heather was due to complete her shift at 10pm but she continued to work past  this to ensure that the department was safe, patients had a plan of care and an exit strategy had been identified.

Making an Outstanding Individual Contribution - Maggie Fellows, ODP, Endoscopy

Nominated by a patient’s daughter in appreciation of the care,  support and advice provided to patient and other family members following an
endoscopy procedure.
In particular, Maggie was commended for the way in which she  carried out her care and duties with such “warmth, compassion and understanding”.

Special Individual Award - Wendy Graham, OT Care Support Worker

Nominated by Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy colleagues, who she supports in her role, for her “hard work, reliability and dedication” and regularly working beyond her normal working hours to ensure patients are seen and discharged in a timely way.
Wendy was also commended for the way in which she works with “challenging” patients, remaining calm and cheerful and often achieving results that others can’t, and for training to become a dementia champion to further help and support patients.
The citation offered numerous examples of the ways in which Wendy goes the extra mile for her colleagues to call her “one in a million”.