Outstanding team honoured for supporting young people with cancer

An inspiring team has been awarded the Guy’s and St Thomas’ People's Award for 2018 for being “a lifeline for young people with cancer”. The special award is given in recognition of providing exceptional care, and nominees are chosen by patients or their families.

Special guest James Brokenshire, MP for Old Bexley & Sidcup and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government presented the award to the teenage and young adults cancer team at the Trust Awards ceremony on Friday 16 November. They were one of 15 individuals or teams presented with awards for their commitment to excellence, including a lifetime achievement award to mark the 70^th birthday of the NHS.

The team was nominated by patient Kathryn Gjorgjiev for supporting her through her treatment for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. As well as providing clinical care to young people, they also provide emotional support and practical advice to help them through a very challenging time.

Kathryn, who surprised the team by joining them on stage to collect their award, said: “I think the services provided by the teenage and young adults cancer team are vital to supporting any young person dealing with cancer.

“When I was told I was going to be supported by all these people, I was overwhelmed, I could not believe how much support I would receive and I can truly say that everyone on the team helped me through tough times that I would not have been able to overcome alone.

“I was very happy to be there to see them win this award, it was a very emotional night.”

The Trust Awards, which are sponsored by Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity, also provided an opportunity to celebrate the outstanding achievements of many other staff who were nominated by their colleagues.

James Brokenshire MP, who is also a recent patient of Guy’s and St Thomas’ said: “I was delighted to be able to attend the Awards and celebrate the work and commitment of so many amazing people making such a difference in our NHS.

“It was particularly special to give the People’s Award to the Teenage and young adult’s cancer team for their incredible work.

“I also appreciated the chance to say a public thank you for all of the care I received from Guy’s and St Thomas’ earlier in the year without which I wouldn’t have been there at all.”

Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The Trust Awards are our opportunity to say thank you to all of our staff for their hard work and dedication to our patients.

“This year we received more than 700 nominations, which is just incredible and shows how much outstanding work goes on within our hospital and community settings.

“It was inspiring to hear about just some of the things that our people do day-in, day-out to care for our patients and each other and to demonstrate our Trust’s values. Congratulations to all our worthy winners.”

The award categories were based on the Trust’s five values and demonstrated how staff across the organisation live those values. The lifetime achievement award was presented to Dr Terry Gibson, who retired having spent his whole NHS career with Guy’s and St Thomas’, only to then volunteer in Sierra Leone where he ended up supporting the response to the 2014 Ebola epidemic. Dr Gibson is now back working at the Trust. 

The full list of winners is: 

Put patients first category (individual)

Beth McHugh, paediatric intensive care

Put patients first category (team)

Lambeth enhanced rapid response and supported discharge team

Take pride in what we do category (individual)

Ann Stroud, training and development  

Take pride in what we do category (team)

The Research & Development & Biomedical Research Centre patient involvement and engagement team

Respect others category (individual)

Mike Farquhar and Kathryn Dean, Evelina London

Respect others category (team)

Language and accessible support team 

Strive to be the best category (individual)

Azhar Majid, portering

Strive to be the best category (team)

Emergency department

Act with integrity category (individual)

Dennis Paquiz, Hedley Atkins ward

Act with integrity category (team)

Renee Steel and Clare Hartill, radiotherapy

People's Award

Teenage and young adults cancer team

Chairman and Chief Executive’s Award

Department of spiritual care

Lifetime Achievement Award

Terry Gibson, acute medicine

Charity Award
Gareth Parker, Guy’s Cancer