The Medical Specialist Group has hosted its first-ever Celebrating Excellence Awards ceremony to recognise colleagues who have demonstrated excellence and outstanding commitment to its values.
Medical Specialist Group (MSG) Deputy chair Dr Michelle Le Cheminant said: “The MSG has an incredibly important role in our local community and our colleagues are at the very centre of that. Every day our colleagues are pouring their heart and soul into providing the highest quality medical care to islanders, and we felt it was time to recognise and celebrate their hard work and achievements.”
The awards, which received almost 40 nominations from colleagues, consisted of five categories: Patient first, Clinical excellence, One team, Going the extra mile and Unsung hero.
Anaesthetic PA Rachael Cox won the ‘Patient first’ award for the way she goes above and beyond to help patients, many of whom are in pain and need compassion, patience and empathy, which she has ‘in spades’ according to her colleagues.
Rachael said: “I was extremely shocked to receive this award – there are so many people at MSG who work exceptionally hard and always put patients first. I’m lucky to work with wonderful colleagues in the Pain team and Anaesthetic department and across the MSG. They make a sometimes difficult job so much easier. Congratulations to all the winners and everyone who was nominated. I’m so grateful to everyone who nominated me.”
Anaesthetic consultant Dr Ravi Anandampillai won the ‘Clinical excellence’ award for providing excellent care to all his patients, with a ‘fantastic bedside manner’. Colleagues said he was ‘kind, supportive to colleagues and incredibly hard working’ and praised the way he was always looking to improve outcomes for patients.
Ravi said: “I’m immensely honoured to be presented this award. I owe it to the teams and colleagues I work with who make it possible for the excellent standard of care we provide.”
The ‘One team’ award for best demonstrating the MSG’s value of working as one team and treating each other with respect went to Medical records. ‘They are friendly and quick to help’, said one nominator. ‘Nothing is ever too much trouble.’
It was a lovely surprise for the records team to be chosen for the team award, it’s nice to be recognised for our hard work, so thank you for all the votes.’ said Medical records clerk Mandy Corbin on behalf of the team.
Sonja Austin, Directorate manager for Surgery, won the ‘Going the extra mile’ award for overcoming challenging situations to deliver an excellent service, always being proactive, kind, caring and compassionate.
“I wasn’t expecting this to be very honest”, she said. “I’m just doing my job in the best way I can, which I couldn’t do without support from my colleagues so I very much feel that this is a team effort, but I really appreciate the recognition.”
And finally, taking home the ‘Unsung hero’ award was Facility and health and safety officer Steve Le Prevost. The sheer number of nominations he received was impressive, with colleagues saying he was always willing to help, and able to turn his hand to large projects and urgent issues. ‘Everyone needs a Steve in their life’ said one colleague.
Steve commented: “I didn’t think I would be nominated as I could think of many more people who were more deserving. This came as such a surprise and made me feel very proud of the people I work with. The fact that they see me in this way encourages me to do more to help others. We are very lucky at the MSG to work with such lovely people and I think everybody deserves their own award.”
Each winner received a certificate, a cheque for £100 and a ‘Celebrating Excellence award winner’ pin badge.
The awards will run annually, with a new patient-nominated category being introduced next year, asking islanders to nominate the MSG colleague they feel is most deserving of recognition.
