The Guernsey Health and Social Care (HSC) staff awards returned this month, but with a difference.
In pre-Covid times, all recipients came together for an annual presentation ceremony, the last of which was staged in 2019.
While recognising that bringing everyone together for a traditional ceremony was still not advisable, but equally recognising that the HSC staff awards were merited more than ever, the HSC Corporate Management Team earlier this month presented awards to recipients at their places of work.
With such a long list of worthy winners, due to incredible individual and team efforts during the pandemic, the award presenters Matt Jones and Dermot Mullin, representing the HSC senior team, went on tour across the HSC estate to deliver a bumper set of 124 awards.
Mr Mullin, currently seconded to the role of Director of Operations, said: “It was a great opportunity to celebrate teamwork and recognise the contribution of a number of individuals that make HSC such a unique place to work.
“It was really special getting out and about making awards to individuals or teams. We witnessed first-hand what it meant to colleagues who all play their part in team HSC, and it was a privilege to be able to thank colleagues in person in their own work environment.”
Breaking with the tradition of there being just one leadership award, this year each HSC Director and Associate Director received a special award recognising the contribution made by their service areas throughout the pandemic.
Among them was Medical Director, Dr Peter Rabey, who reflected on the amazing team spirit which had seen true joined up working between the States of Guernsey, MSG, Primary Care and the Emergency Ambulance Service.
Helen Ridgwick, Associate Director for Operational Support Services was presented the award for her service area as well as a special recognition award for exceptional and critical work to secure PPE for the community and HSC throughout the height of the pandemic, ensuring there was always sufficient stocks to enable safe working.
HSC Vice President, Deputy Tina Bury joined Dermot and Matt to present the President’s Excellence Award to the Scheduling and Testing Team, as pictured. She said: “The team should be so proud of what they achieved and I wish to express my gratitude on behalf of HSC and the community in general.”
Deputy Bury acknowledged that the team was formed at speed and that they had all had been redeployed from other roles. The team was initially swabbing approximately 30 people per day with the testing being done off island. But after on-island testing was introduced in April 2020, the team went on to carry out up to 1,000 tests per day.
HSC President, Deputy Al Brouard, said: “Every team and every member of staff has worked tirelessly for our community to respond to the challenges of the pandemic and everything it threw at us for a very long period of time. Some of the challenges continue for us and may take a considerable period of time to work through going forward, but everything we achieve is because our staff care and they deliver for our community and organisation every single day.”
Find more information on all the winners here.
The main picture shows HSC Vice President Deputy Tina Bury presenting the HSC President’s Award to the Scheduling and Testing Team.
