LPFT Heroes

Urgent assessment teams

Our urgent assessment teams include our Psychiatric Clinical Decisions Unit, Health Based Place of Safety, and our Mental Health Urgent Assessment Centre.

Even in challenging circumstances and throughout the launch of a new service, the teams continue to support and show compassion towards service users, carers and colleagues. The statistics for the teams show the difference they have made in keeping patients closer to home and finding alternatives to hospital admission through support in their local community.

Steps2change Employment Advisors

Steps2change Employment Advisors provide an individually tailored service to meet the needs of people experiencing stress, anxiety or depression. They support service users to identify solutions to work-related issues and overcome the barriers to accessing employment.

Recently, the team have received excellent feedback and have been sharing their expertise with new members of the team. They are passionate about what they do and always act with compassion and kindness.

Chris Daubney

In the Spalding Adult Community Mental Health Team, Chris demonstrates all the Trust values in his approach to delivering patient centred care. Chris is also the Clinical Team Manager.

There is consistently excellent feedback from staff about Chris’ leadership abilities, even during challenging times. His team commented that he cares deeply about the wellbeing of his team, is a good listener, and always takes their concerns forward.  

Bank Staffing Unit

The Bank Staffing Unit team have worked tirelessly through the pandemic, including some periods of working seven days a week including bank holidays and Christmas. In 2021/22 the team recruited over 116 new bank staff and have filled 29690 bank shifts for the Trust to support safe staffing.

The team is a true asset to the Trust; dedicated and hardworking. Team members have had to change the way they work to get the new bank workers inducted and trained, and support these bank workers through their first few months of work.

Lucy Pearce

Lucy is the Team Manager in our Community Mental Health Team at Lincoln North and was nominated for LPFT Heroes for her outstanding leadership. Her door is always open and she goes above and beyond to support her team. Lucy works in a patient centred and caring way to ensure a high level of experience for service users and staff.

Inpatient Housekeepers

Our housekeeping teams have been exceptional in their hard work during the continued challenges COVID19 presents to our inpatient services. They have, and are continuing, to keep our patients and clinical teams safe.

There have been staffing challenges throughout the year. Teams across the Trust have been supporting with things which would not normally be in their remit. They have also been doing additional shifts when they were not already working. 

Jane Andrew

Jane Andrew works in our HR team and was nominated for her work around vaccination as a condition of deployment (VCOD). She really went over and above in supporting the project, particularly because of its sensitive nature.

She was key in developing policy, templates, and guidance for managers (Frequently Asked Questions), and was a listening ear to staff in her divisions who were struggling. Jane supported other HR Business Partners with their understanding liaised with system colleagues to support with consistency across the organisations. She was key in ensuring the necessary processes were in place.

Gill Walker

Gill is now retired but was chosen as an LPFT Hero for her work in our CAMHS Eating Disorder Team. She was dedicated to helping team members with their training and development. She always went above and beyond to check in with everyone working remotely to support them with their wellbeing.

Gill is a very democratic and compassionate leader who listened to the ideas and concerns of everyone in the team. She was a valued and well-respected member of staff who clearly put patient care at the heart of everything.

Estates and Facilities Team

The Estates and Facilities Team were nominated for going the extra mile to be helpful and approachable across our services and projects. They recently supported a member of staff in a new management role. Their “invaluable input, patience and can-do attitude” was very much appreciated.

Every member of the team always acts with kindness and compassion. The team seeks to empower staff in the Trust to ask for guidance and make improvements in their services. Most of all, the team strive to deliver a “best in class” service to support our staff, patients and visitors.

Community Forensic Team

The Community Forensic Team is a small, trustwide service which over the past year has overcome challenges and operational changes. The team have continued to demonstrate safe, effective and person-centred community care. They work dynamically and collaboratively with other community teams and external agencies.

The team have consistently delivered high quality care with compassion across the county. They often go above and beyond for service users.

Robert Flaszynski

Robert was nominated by his manager for demonstrating the LPFT values and "what all staff nurses should strive to be". He is passionate about what he does and those he cares for. Robert goes above and beyond, for example, coming in to work at short notice when needed. He always has a smile and his kindness and compassion for the patients and team is clear for everyone to see. 

Charlotte Skuse

Charlotte Skuse has made an outstanding contribution and shown incredible dedication to both her patients and the service within Boston Older Adult CMHT.

Charlotte is a very compassionate nurse. She always advocates to ensure the very best for her patients. She frequently goes above and beyond what is required within her role as a CPN.

Most recently a patient of Charlotte’s needed hospital treatment following a progressive physical deterioration. This patient presented with multiple safeguarding complexities. He was also very afraid of hospitals.

Charlotte persistently monitored his wellbeing daily. She strongly advocated and ensured he was fully informed and supported throughout this process. Through her persistence and involving a wide multiagency approach, the patient was able to receive urgent medical treatment.

Lincolnshire Mental Health Adviser Helpline team

The Lincolnshire Mental Health Adviser Helpline service was set up during the pandemic. The team were working 24 hours a day and 7 days a week shift work whilst also working from home.

Despite these difficulties, the team has created a well-functioning service that has embraced new responsibilities and worked hard to make things work. The team often attend meetings in their own time to enable the service to be set up well and to publicise the service.

Kim Shepherd

Kim is a Data Inputter within the Louth steps2change team. She is a highly valued member of staff who has demonstrated commitment to putting service user needs first, despite her own challenges during the pandemic.

Despite the challenges Kim has faced, she has continued to demonstrate excellent passion and commitment to her work, and the quality of service that she provides. 

Kim has been an inspiration to others in the way that she has managed and overcome the difficulties she has faced. Kim has demonstrated commitment to fulfilling her role within the trust. 

The Hartsholme Centre

The Hartsholme Centre, is a 10 bedded all male psychiatric intensive care service for people with acute mental health difficulties based in Lincoln. 

Over the past year plus, the centre has undergone an amazing transition, with the ward working really hard to review and improve their practices in relation to restrictive interventions. 

Colleagues commented on how the transparent, collaborative, positive and reflective culture of the ward that is now evident embodies the Trust's values. 

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Marta Ziedalska

Marta is a student nurse within our Older Adult Home Treatment Team (HTT). She goes above and beyond for service users and demonstrates our LPFT values. Marta was instrumental in translating for a service user who did not speak English. This allowed him to get the help he needed for his mental and physical health.

Through speaking with the gentleman and his wife, Marta established the appropriate care required. She supported the HTT in the service delivery, giving up her own time to translate to ensure all care needs, including social care, were addressed.

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The Vales Team

The Vales team work on our female inpatient rehabilitation unit based at St George’s in Lincoln. The team have pulled together throughout the COVID19 pandemic to overcome challenges, support each other, and provide the very best care and treatment for patients.

They have worked exceptionally hard to ensure patient safety and experience is optimal at all times, keeping patients at the centre of all they do.

Community Rehabilitation Team

Despite the many challenges that have arisen in the recent year, the Community Rehab Team have workedremarkably hard to ensure that our patients' needs are met. They provide much needed support for the people of Lincolnshire. 

The team have been proactive and creative in meeting the challenges they have been faced with. Patient care has been at the centre of their work every step of the way.

Colleagues have commented that they are very impressed and proud of how the team has continually strived for excellence. The Community Rehabilitation Team continuously uphold the vision and values of the Trust.

Adam Roberts

Adam is a Procurement Assistant for LPFT and ULHT. He upholds theTrust values in such a way that it has been recognised by members of his team as setting a great example for the care we strive to provide to our service users.

Adam went above and beyond to assist a service user in a potentially distressing situation. He ensured a hotel room they required was paid for by going directly to the hotel with a purchase card after issues were experienced with remote payment.

Adam's compassion for this service user helped to ease the situation and alleviate stress. His ongoing compassion within his work makes us proud to have him as part of our Trust.

Physical Healthcare and Infection Prevention and Control Team

The team have supported the Lincolnshire health systems response to the COVID19 pandemic for several weeks.This was done through community swabbing before there being any real impact of the emergency on the wider Trust. Each team member has demonstrated the Trusts values and been extremely flexible to support great outcomes for our patients and staff.

The Physical Healthcare and Infection Prevention and Control Team have worked incredibly hard to ensure and maintain patient and staff safety during the COVID pandemic. Their resilience and "can do" attitude is testament to their commitment to the Trust, patients and colleagues. They have worked above and beyond their usual role. They are providing a seven day service to ensure that patients are screened for COVID when required. They were also carrying out staff antibody testing in addition to their usual workload.

Rebecca Gall

Since taking the role of team coordinator at Lincolnshire Secure Unit (LSU) in August 2019 in incredibly difficult circumstances, Rebecca has grown in confidence. She now continues to develop her team and is providing great care for all service users. She always leads by example and is extremely passionate about supporting the team and the young people. 

During the COVID19 pandemic, Rebecca has excelled herself in many ways in very challenging circumstances on the unit. She has continued to ensure that the team delivered service while supporting the unit management and team with managing the implications of COVID19 pandemic. She has worked collaboratively to ensure that the young were receiving the best care. 

Her nomination was endorsed by LSU unit manager, who said how grateful they were for the support Becca has given them and the staff team. She was a true inspiration. 

Grantham Older Adult CMHT Placement Team

As part of Grantham's Older Adult Community Mental Health Team, this service supports patients in 24hr care settings with reviews of medication, assessments and safety. The team ensure the highest standards of care are achieved. They are a great source of positive feedback from families and carers and other service providers. 

Since this service was rolled out in Grantham, it has significantly improved the quality of care and reduced the number of hospital admissions. 

The team are also working on training and education packs for the 29 care facilities they support. They are passionate about delivering high quality care. They are outstanding advocates for vulnerable people.

Debbie Blant

Debbie is a role model for effective and compassionate leadership. She goes above and beyond to ensure patients and staff are well cared for.

Through recent challenges, she has demonstrated her commitment to older adult dementia services and mental health nursing.​​​​​​

Jackie Sendall

Jackie has been invaluable in supporting the Charlesworth Team and a patient through an extremely challenging set of circumstances. Jackie is compassionate, empathetic, kind and caring.

Congratulations for this recognition and thank you for your continued hard work.

Legal services and mental health act administration team

In the last year the team have developed extensive new in house skills and services. This has resulted in a more personalised and cost effective service for our clinical staff, service users and carers.

They have transformed from a central service to a distributed service with individualised reports and support to each division. This was done via their divisional management teams. This lead to more effective reporting upwards to the Board and its committees. This is just a snapshot of the work they have done to develop the service and support the Trust to save money and maintain performance against legal duties of the MHA.

Richard Toone

Richard has been described as taking an excellent project management approach to moving the payroll team to Jarvis House earlier this year. He demonstrated accountability, information sharing, and an all round helpful and positive attitude.

Richard is well deserving of this recognition. Thank you for your hard work to ensure the move went as smoothly as it could.

The Wolds

The Wolds showed the passion they have for their roles in their work. The care they provide to our service users is clear in what they do.

The team goes above and beyond in performing their duties and in welcoming and supporting staff to our ward.  Even in the extreme circumstances when we have been depleted of staff to support othe areas, often running on very few staff on one shift.

They aspire for excellence in all they do. They always have some great ideas to improve the ward and patients' experience. They were nominated for the LPFT Heroes team award for their amazing work with each other and other professionals. The team receives positive feedback from bank staff and students commenting on how welcoming the staff have been. The team have been praised on how supportive they are in taking the time to explain how things work.

The nominating manager commented "They are one of, if not the best team I have had the pleasure of working alongside." 

Emma Washbrook

Emma was awarded the individual LPFT Hero award for being a vital part of the Informatics team. Colleagues commented that without Emma's contribution the Informatics department wouldn't produce the same level of work or customer service. 

Emma truly lives the LPFT values every day. She is never too busy to help out any member of the team. She always makes time to listen to others and help them reach a solution. Emma is extremely dedicated to her work and really wants to support operational services.

Even though she works part time to balance work and family commitments, Emma always makes herself available for meetings with the service and prioritises working with operational teams. This can sometimes mean working in the evenings of changing childcare arrangements. She really cares about the care LPFT deliver and the patients we look after. 

Emma has recently been working as part of a job share within the Informatics department. She has helped to inspire excellence within this role and has lots of fresh ideas. She has also adapted well to working with others and turned the job share into a true collaborative way of working.

Emma has led by example in adhering to best practice and sharing this way of working with the wider team. She is never a 'told you so' person but is always happy to collaborate with other team members and reach  a solution for any problems or tricky situations which arise.

Emma is very well respected by her colleagues because of her expert knowledge of all things data and how she has developed relationships with operational services. Colleagues commented that she deserves this recognition because she is loyal to the Trust. Emma always goes above and beyond. 

Pharmacy Team

The pharmacy team show exceptional dedication and passion to providing the best services possible across our organisation. 

Two examples of this exceptional service are:

• the implementation of the electronic prescribing (EPMA) system on the Francis Willis Unit 
• setting up the Trust’s clozapine clinics.

The EPMA project has not progressed without its challenges. These are mainly significant delays and extensions of deadlines.

Melanie Bond and Joan Spencer have both been integral to the Trust reaching the go live milestone. They have been committed, dedicated and passionate. They both have had belief that the system will provide a safer level of patient care.

Kerry Evans has shown exceptional dedication and passion in setting up the Trust's clozapine clinics. This started with a genuine interest in addressing the lack of joined up care that clozapine patients were previously receiving. This then expanded to Kerry going above and beyond to ensure all four clinics were established. She then ensured they then performed to high standards and consistency of service. Her patient satisfaction survey for those attending clozapine clinics shows the positive experience and improved care that patients have by attending these clinics.

These are just two examples highlighting the fantastic work of the pharmacy team. They all work collaboratively to provide expert medicines advice and support great patient care.

Natasha Cutts

Since Natasha has been in post she has spread her positivity throughout the team and the Trust. Natasha has worked tirelessly to increase engagement with hard to reach young people through a variety of creative ways.

She started a young person’s choir and a staff wellbeing choir. A colleague of Natasha’s said:

“It is incredible that someone has come into the team and made such an impact on staff wellbeing.”

Estates maintenance

The Estates Maintenance Team has been integral during recent essential improvement works at Carholme Court.

They all worked above and beyond to ensure that the unit was ready to welcome patients as quickly as possible. They have been working out of hours to ensure the water quality issues were resolved thoroughly and safely.

Celia Ellis

Celia always puts the patients at the heart of her work. Not only is she patient focused, she is extremely caring about her colleagues and wider teams. She recently took on her role of Wellbeing Champion with great enthusiasm.

She has been described by colleagues as humble and inspiring. She is always willing to try new things that take her out of her comfort zone and is a pleasure to work with.

Informatics team

Thanks to their hard work and total commitment to improving patient care the informatics team has wowed us all by achieving the impossible.

The supplier of our main clinical system gave notice that they were pulling support by the following September The trust was faced with delivering the most important but most risk laden project it had seen. Some suppliers even said it couldn’t be done.

In this remarkable timeframe the Informatics team has:

• Trained over 1500 staff in the new system
• Successfully implemented the new system including a full archive that links seamlessly
• From day 1 continued to operate business as usual. They produced all the required data reports for service managers, commissioners, regulators and the board
• Worked long hours and weekends to ensure no deadline was missed
• Offered their time as “floor walkers” to frontline services during the first few weeks of “go live”

The informatics team has represented all the values that NHS support functions should aspire to,  commitment, collaboration and pride.

Recruitment Team

The Recruitment Team were nominated for having worked exceptionally hard to engage the newly qualified nurses in the recruitment process. This was to ensure that all of them had completed their induction by the start of September.

The newly qualified nurses mentioned the team when giving feedback about their experience. They were very positive about how efficiently the process was managed. This is just one example of how the team go above and beyond to ensure the recruitment process is as quick and easy as possible.

Edmund Uweh

Edmund was nominated for always going above and beyond to support the ward with safe staffing during busy periods. Thanks to Edmund’s hard work covering shifts and taking on additional hours, there has been minimal impact on the delivery of patient care.

Edmund consistently demonstrates the Trust’s core values, particularly:

• integrity
• pride
• compassion.

He regularly exhibits sound clinical practice and is a role model to both staff and students.

Sophie Broady

Sophie was nominated for her continuous hard work and dedication to the Lincoln South Community Mental Health Team (CMHT). Due to staff shortage, she managed all of the Assertive Outreach service users for the South CMHT.  

Sophie worked long hours but always took the time to ensure service users were safe and treated with compassion and care. She is a passionate nurse, and is described by colleagues as always giving 110% in all that she does. ‘Words cannot do her justice’.

Bed Management Team

The Bed Management Team were nominated for being hard-working and dedicated to their roles. The team has made a positive impact on Trust services.

Eliminating non specialist out of area mental health placements is a national and local priority. The bed managers have enabled significant progress towards achieving those targets, with a large reduction in the number of people placed outside Lincolnshire.

Vanessa Martin

Vanessa was nominated for this award after supporting the oversite and work in relation to the Trust-wide CQUINs (Commissioning for Quality and Innovation).

Through her attention to detail, respectful challenge and determination she ensured the Trust received payment for the Alcohol and Tobacco CQUIN which has proven to be a challenge to deliver operationally.

This along with her other work ensures the Trust receives maximum income in often challenging situations. She is always ready to help, is prompt in her support and advice, and has been described as an 'asset to the Trust'.

Hayley Slater

Hayley was nominated for a specific case supporting a patient who had a child with disabilities who was receiving palliative care.

Hayley took the time to understand other agency concerns and listened to her staff and patients, whilst ensuring the patient's rights were protected. The Trust's values and the NMC code were upheld.

Hayley is an excellent role model and is greatly respected by her colleagues. The Lincoln Crisis team has been described as being highly motivated and thriving under Hayley's positive leadership.

Learning Disability East Hub team

The Learning Disabilities East Hub team were nominated for this award by Suzanne Chapman and Mark Halsall following a recent '15 Steps' and Quality Governance visit.

The team were accommodating, friendly and helpful throughout the visit. They demonstrated compassion and care, truly putting service users at the centre of everything they do.

Suzanne explained that they saw some fantastic examples of correspondence being tailored to meet the specific requirements of individuals, They wanted to thank the team for an ‘enjoyable and inspirational visit’.

Hannah Walker

Hannak is Team Secretary for the Skegness Community Mental Health Team. She was nominated by Assessment and Discharge Lead for Boston CMHT, Lauren Worthington.

Lauren said that Hanna always goes above and beyond to support the administrative side of the assessment role. She has helped develop new methods and shared her ideas which are always quick and efficient for booking in assessments.

Hannah has helped streamline the assessment process across three administration team areas. This has ensured that they are working together on the same system, has helped avoid cross-over or confusions, and is ultimately much more efficient.  

Hannah is the first administrator to be recognised as an LPFT Hero.

Patient Experience Team

The work undertaken by the Patient Experience Team is always challenging by its very nature, and requires:

• high levels of communication skills (both verbal and written)
• empathy
• resilience
• responsiveness.

Critically, it needs a well-developed appreciation of the reality of service users' lives and experiences. It also requires a good understanding of how our services are delivered.

Cathy, Alison, Heather and Amanda have significantly lifted the performance of this service over the past year. They have dealt with a number of very challenging and complex cases and have consistently maintained a high level of professionalism throughout. 

Kerry Hill

Kerry is an effective and proficient CAMHS nurse who works with children and their families to safeguard them in all circumstances.

Liz Bainbridge nominated Kerry for this award due to a recent audit under section 11 of the Children Act. Kerry's cases were shared with the auditors and her practice was highlighted for its tenacity and thoroughness. In one case example Kerry had persistently pursued the safety and wellbeing of a CAMHS child's sibling. Her practice was exceptional in light of the fact that she herself had never met the child that she was protecting.

Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)

Kay Gilman and Amanda Proud from the Learning and Development Centre nominated the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) team for the LPFT Heroes team award. They were impressed by their hard work getting the PICU ready for action and also their lifesaving response to a diabetic crisis.

As part of their team induction they received the Physical Health Improvement Learning in Practice (PHILIP) training. This training covers awareness of type 1 and 2 diabetes and DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis).

The training was received well by the PICU staff. Within a matter of days of this training being completed an external contractor in the unit suffered a life threatening diabetic crisis.

Staff showed confidence in dealing with the incident through the knowledge gained in their recent training. The staff took lifesaving action which should be commended and the gentleman concerned recovered quickly.

The team’s fantastic work was recognised by the Executive Team by naming the PICU team as the LPFT Heroes.

Nicola Jackson

Nicola Jackson, Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) Practitioner for Skegness steps2change, received this LPFT Hero nomination from her Team Coordinator, Kirsty Talkes. 

Nicola is a real ambassador for IPT. This is one of the many reasons Kirsty wanted to nominate Nicola for an LPFT Hero award. She is passionate about the therapy and is really positive about the benefit that it brings to her service users.

Kirsty went on to explain that Nicola had recently presented at the IPT National Conference and received some extremely positive feedback from her presentation.

All of this dedication and hard work was also recognised by the Executive Team by naming Nicola the LPFT Hero.

CRHT Boston and Louth

Crisis teams in Louth and Boston were recognised for their support to other colleagues and teams ensuring that patients are at the centre of all care given.

They demonstrated these values during the CQC inspections. They explained how they want to achieve the best standards of care to patients and others around them. They still continue to demonstrate this approach every day.

Claire Ryan

Claire is the first individual from corporate services who was awarded LPFT Hero title since we started the awards in 2015. She has been nominated by her manager John Clarke. He recognised her significant contribution to the successful delivery of the PICU Project.

John said

“Claire worked above and beyond her job role with enthusiasm and true commitment. She is a great team player who works very hard behind the scenes but doesn't often get the recognition she deserves.”

Claire's unwavering commitment to patient care is evident to those who work alongside her. Her can do attitude has been the major driving force behind the PICU's success.

By choosing Claire to be one of LPFT Heroes, the Executive Team also recognised Claire’s commitment to providing excellent support for all LPFT services as part of her daily duties.

Jacqui Hunt

Jacqui, Team Coordinator of Boston CRHT, received a nomination from the Trust's Associate Director of Nursing and Quality Zoë Rowe, for the way she leads her team.

"Jacqui has already had such a positive impact on the team since joining earlier this year. She is such a strong and inclusive leader and absolutely deserves recognition for the difference she makes in her work for her staff and patients"

Zoe Rowe

Safeguarding & MCA

The Trust's Safeguarding & Mental Capacity Team has been selected as quarter one team winners.

Nominated by manager Liz Bainbridge for their 'outstanding commitment to patient safety and their leadership and responsiveness across the Trust'.  

Liz added that it was the overall impact of her team that she thought deserved some recognition:  

"There are few teams who provide such an integral role to patients, staff in front line services and also have a corporate oversight.  With an increase in demand for training, advice and reviews of complex cases, the team has continued to demonstrate their professionalism and perseverance. They continue to deliver safe, responsive, caring and well-led support to patients and the staff who provide care for them."

Laura Hall

Grimsby's North East Lincolnshire CAMHS team, Primary Mental Health Worker Laura Hall, was nominated by fellow CAMHS worker Laura Wivell.

"Laura is one in a million and I know that the rest of the team would support me in saying that NEL CAMHS would be a less brighter place without her around. 

For the past five years Laura has been undergoing treatment for cancer, yet you wouldn't know it if you met her. She has never once failed to stay passionate about her job and has always been back at work with her positivity and caring attitude."

Lincoln CRHT

Lincoln CRHT & s136 Suite Team were chosen as this year's quarter two winners. Flexibility from the staff members and dedication to making sure service users are safe, spurred manager Gareth Price on to make a nomination.

"The team has worked incredibly hard dealing with a constant large number of referrals into the service.

They have been flexible in covering shifts and meeting the needs of those accessing the service. Staff have frequently altered their rostered duties and regularly stayed over their hours to make sure all work is complete and service users are safe."

Amy Semper

Amy Semper, Deputy Ward Manager received a special nomination from a former patient, who she had a remarkable impact on during her time on the ward.

An extract from the original nomination form reads as follows: 

"Amy has changed my life. She got loads of different people and services involved to try and help me. She is truthful and I always know where I stand with her.

She has been there for me recently, she is fair and kind hearted. She likes to help people and will always listen even if you don't like what she says, you know she is doing the best for you."

It is not often that we receive nominations for LPFT Heroes from patients. To have a patient in Amy’s care recognise the determination and continual support she has shown them, demonstrates how committed Amy is to her role. Such outstanding care deserves the kind of recognition that LPFT Heroes bring.

Amy has gone above and beyond her knowledge and expertise in providing care relevant to this service user. The experience she has gained will undoubtedly help her in the future practice when caring for other patients.

Conolly Ward

James Smith, Ward Manager at Conolly Ward, said he wanted to make a team nomination as a way of saying a big thank you for everything his staff do.

James Smith said:

I wanted to nominate them in recognition of the consistent hard work that they deliver on a day to day basis.

Conolly ward was chosen to lead on the acute inpatient services project in late 2016. The team have really contributed towards developing new practice and new ways of streamlining the acute pathway. The work is currently being rolled out to the other acute wards while Conolly ward continues on its improvement journey.

The team consistently demonstrates and exceeds service expectations when it comes to delivering high quality person centred care.

Nominating them for staff recognition is a fantastic way to say thank you for all that they do and I'm delighted that they've been chosen as LPFT team Heroes.

The Wolds

The Team was originally nominated by a former Ward Manager, Steve Wyatt. In the nomination it was highlighted that the team always strives to be the very best they can. They have steadily improved over the entire spectrum of care delivery.

One of the examples given included a case when staff have altered their rostered duties when the ward has been short staffed due to sickness. This ensured the needs of the patients they care for are met, all without complaint.

Staff at The Wolds are passionate about their patients, the carers and their fellow colleagues and show this on a day to day basis. They are always willing to look at ways to improve patient care in addition to their own knowledge, using the resources they have available.

Their ward manager said that she has witnessed first hand, the commitment and dedication to their patients, carers and the Trust. The Wolds team deserve a lot of credit for their persistent improvement and attitude towards care.

The Fens

Dawn Selkirk from the Informatics team nominated ward staff at The Fens. She was impressed by the significant improvement in the quality of daily clinical record entries on a recent audit. 

The team has designed and implemented a new template for recording their clinical notes, based on the MINOTAUR tool and they achieved 100% compliance in the audit. This was clearly noted for all team members and it was a great team effort to embed this in practice.

The Fens team has always been dedicated to improving patient care and patient experience by:

• supporting the needs of patients within the service
• developing new systems of collaborative care for treatment pathways via the care and treatment review process
• instilling these values with all service users.

All of this dedication and hard work was recognised by the Executive Team by naming the Fens team the LPFT Heroes.

Kathryn Hopkins

Kathryn has become the quality champion for Ash Villa. Her tireless work, especially in the lead up to the CQC inspection, has improved the environment, experience and safety of the unit. She has put a great effort to involve patients in all the proposed changes and service developments. She has also engaged all staff and she ensures all newly qualified are considered for new opportunities.

Kathryn is a valued leader who is proactive and always has a can do attitude. She has been pivotal to the improvements on the ward and it is an absolute pleasure to present her today with this LPFT Heroes trophy that she absolutely deserves.

Debbie Barker

Debbie works with service users at our Discovery House café in Lincoln. She scooped an individual Heroes award after being nominated by colleague Marina Keal for the way she encourages and motivates those who work alongside her. 

She supports service users who help out in the running of the café. They learn to be responsible for themselves and practice good customer service and food preparation skills in addition to being mindful of their co workers.

Debbie, who's worked for the NHS in Lincolnshire for 26 years, started working full-time on the café with the patients about two years ago. She says it's one of the best things she's done.

I'm absolutely over the moon to have been nominated.  It's amazing working with the patients, it definitely has the wow factor for me.  We go on a journey together and go through all the emotions. It's a privilege to watch them grow in confidence.

CAST team

Our Community Assertive Support Team (CAST) were nominated by parents of learning disabilities service users for their positive, compassionate and friendly approach at all times.

The staff members now work as part of the Trust’s new learning disability hubs across Lincolnshire and continue to support people with learning disabilities and their families in the community, to help them live as independently as possible.  Here's what some of the parents said about the team:

We first came into contact with CAST at a very difficult time for both our daughter and ourselves.  We were somewhat overwhelmed by the situation and CAST bought a sense of order and relief by their positive, friendly and professional approach.  Throughout their time with us the team showed total respect and regard to our daughters situation and were imaginative in the support they gave, building a good relationship with our daughter.

CAST always went the extra mile, one example was when team members made time to be "Friendly Faces" when our daughter was admitted to hospital.

Their commitment to our daughters welfare was total, right through to helping her settle in her new supported living placement away from the family home.

The support they gave to us as parents was invaluable, we cannot speak too highly of their contribution.

Linda Taylor (Physiotherapist, Witham Court, Lincoln)

Linda was nominated by her former manager Val Smith for her tireless work in providing an invaluable service to our older adult inpatients. Linda works across the Trust's four older adult wards . She provides them with a sole physiotherapy service. Val said that her skills and knowledge are greatly valued by the whole multi-disciplinary team.

The patients respond to her calm and patient approach. Linda gives more than 100 per cent every day to improve the lives of our patients - if we could clone her we would. Her nomination is in recognition of years of dedicated service above and beyond the call of duty to older adult services.

Linda said she was delighted to have been named as one of the LPFT Heroes.

My biggest reward comes each day when my efforts at work make a positive difference to the service users.  It is good to know that physiotherapy input is recognised and valued by service users, their carers and multidisciplinary team members.

Skegness Older Adult Community Mental Health Team

The Skegness Older Adult CMHT impressed a recent CQC inspector so much that their manager Jason Ingamells, thought they were well due some staff recognition. During December's comprehensive visit, one inspector was heard to say 'the outstanding thing for your team is the passion and commitment that shines through in every one of you.'

I think a CQC inspector saying that about one of the teams is well worthy of recognition.

I am absolutely delighted that the hard work and dedication of every member of the team has been recognised by the Trust.  This is an incredibly deserved choice for LPFT Heroes as the whole team are heroes every single day.

Jason Ingamells

Human Resources and Employment Services team

The excellent teamwork and high standard of customer service provided by the Trust's Human Resources and Employment Services department saw them chosen as team winners of an LPFT Heroes award.

They were nominated by Michelle Morton, Senior HR Advisor for supporting each other and frequently going above and beyond the call of duty. The team faced multiple challenges including an unprecedented amount of organisational change and managing high levels of recruitment.

Michelle said:

As a non patient facing service the focus of the team is always to ensure that everything we do is for the benefit of service users. This is from safeguarding meetings, disciplinary hearings or training, to working to try and improve service user involvement in recruitment.  They have made some real positive contributions and steps forward. This includes providing bespoke support to staff at risk of redundancy, early implementers of regional recruitment streamlining initiatives and recruiting newly qualified nurses.

Helen Raggett, Head of Operational HR said she was tremendously proud of the whole team for all the hard work they have all put in over the last twelve months stating:

"We've had a number of recruitment challenges, changed projects and complex employee relation issues to manage with a relatively small number of staff. Some of the staff are new to the department.  It's great to hear that the efforts of our high performing team have been recognised in this way."