Shine Awards 2023

On 5 July 2023 the NHS turned 75 and the Trust celebrated its third annual Shine Awards at Broomfield Hospital. Take a look at the highlights in our photo reel.

Over 430 nominations were submitted across nine award categories. After a robust scoring and judging process, the final 27 nominees were selected, and below you can watch our nominee videos and read more about our winners:

Rising Star winner

Demi Collingridge, Rising Star winner 2023

Demi Collingridge, Internationally Trained Midwife OSCE Lead

Since joining the Trust in September, Demi has developed and implemented a successful training programme for internationally educated midwives to assess their clinical competence.

Not only does Demi support with practical and clinical development, she also gives pastoral support to midwives arriving from different countries.

She has played a significant role in helping new arrivals integrate into our workforce. She has improved the support for new arrivals, including helping with travel costs and finding accommodation on their first day.

Spotlight winner

Dawn Haigh, Spotlight winner 2023

Dawn Haigh, Lead for Interpreting and Translation service

Dawn has worked hard to create a new interpreting and translation service that is professional, patient-focused and easy to access. She is dedicated to improving patient experience for people whose first language isn’t English, ensuring that they know what is happening to them and so they don’t feel marginalised.

Highly self-motivated and driven, Dawn has created excellent relationships with colleagues and external partners and is passionate about providing the right resources to communicate with our patients.

New Ideas winner

Helen Sturgess, winner of the New Ideas award 2023

Helen Sturgess, Clinical Lead, Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

Helen has developed a new speech and language therapy pathway, which has helped patients access the service more quickly.

Helen led the project, working closely with Provide, to create presentations and scripts for videos. The work has also freed up capacity for therapists in the service.

The new pathway was introduced in January, and by March waiting times were reduced by a third.

Helen came up with the initial idea, did most of the groundwork and has driven the pathway forward. Once fully trialled, the team hope to market the package which should create some income for the Trust.

Patient Champion winner

Jan Thomas, Patient Champion winner 2023

Jan Thomas, Associate Practitioner

Jan has been working in the NHS for 42 years, during which  time she has built strong and caring relationships with both colleagues and patients.

Jan takes great pride in her work. During the pandemic, Jan made cakes for her colleagues at Broomfield Hospital and also created a special card in a heart shape for patients and relatives.

There are lots of stories Jan could share about going over and above for her patients. There have also been so many times when she’s dedicated herself to the team – organising team building days, social activities, Christmas events and more; all to support her colleagues and boost morale.

Leadership winner

George Sioftanos, Leadership winner 2023

George Sioftanos, Consultant Clinical Oncologist

George is an exceptional leader – visible, supportive, encouraging, and respectful to all staff.

He was instrumental in setting up an acute oncology assessment unit at Southend Hospital. This helped to improve emergency pathways for patients helping them have a more positive hospital experience. It’s also helped reduce the workload for our emergency department and medical colleagues.

George is also actively involved in educating the next generation of medics. He coordinates medical student rotations and shares his own wealth of knowledge and experience.

George's colleagues speak of him in glowing terms, and his patients comment on the exceptional care they receive.

Partnership winner

Kevin Garrod, Partnership winner 2023

Kevin Garrod, Anchor Programme Manager

Kevin works tirelessly to ensure residents of mid and south Essex have access to quality employment and that our hospitals support the wider physical, social and environmental factors which impact the wellbeing of local communities.

He works with 30 external organisations to support our community through the Anchor Programme, a first in the region, which has helped our Trust get national recognition.

Kevin’s leadership of the programme has supported around 600 students with online training, 87% of whom are now planning a career in healthcare. Since April 2019, Kevin has supported 358 local work placements and almost 600 apprentices.

Making a Difference winner

Shine Awards 2023 winner: Craig Alexander

Craig Alexander, Systems Administrator

Since his first day in the Occupational Health department, Craig has been an outstanding member of the team.

As well as providing excellent customer service, Craig has worked tirelessly to support projects for the department, including the upgrade to the Occupational Health and Wellbeing software system.

Craig has made sure the system meets the digital needs of the service, ironing out longstanding issues. Our staff now benefit from an improved digital occupational health and wellbeing service, which is better equipped to support our patients and should help make for a healthier workforce.

Outstanding Achievement winner

Jane Gilby, Outstanding Achievement (individual) winner 2023

Jane Gilby, Admiral Nurse

Jane has been in nursing since 1988 and was the first acute hospital Admiral Nurse in Essex, supporting patients with dementia.

She is a huge advocate for specialist support and provision in hospital settings, and helping people recognise the impact that dementia has on people living with it and their families and carers.

Jane is known and respected across the Trust, and with our partners in the wider health and social care system.

Jane has supported people with dementia to live good quality lives. Her genuine warmth and compassion are incomparable.

Outstanding Achievement winner

Shine Awards 2023 winners: Acute Stroke Nursing team

Acute Stroke Nursing team

Our Acute Stroke Nursing team developed a new standard operating procedure for requesting CT angiogram scans.

The new procedure has helped reduce the time it takes for potential thrombectomy patients to have a scan after their initial referral. The procedure is now being implemented by other stroke services in the East of England as an example of best practice.

The team are working across our hospital sites to align services. They also work closely with partners across the integrated care system.

2023 Sponsors

Thank you to our sponsors Cloud21 for supporting the Shine Awards. A special thanks to our media partner, The Echo, and to Leigh on Sea Brewery for kindly donating drinks for our guests.

Cloud21 logo are our silver sponsors for 2022 Shine Awards