Hospital honours those who go the extra mile

THE DEDICATION and compassion of staff and volunteers at Leicester’s Hospitals was recognised during the sixth annual Caring at its Best awards.

The awards are a platform to showcase the hard work of everyone involved in all aspects of the trust and to commend the achievements of an extraordinary few whose efforts make a difference to colleagues and patients.

Among the winners were Michele Collins, a deputy sister on children’s ward 28 at Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI); Dawn Harrison a fracture clinic sister also at the LRI; 86-year-old volunteer Ray Sandal who works on the main reception at Leicester General and Roz Kennedy a specialist TB nurse at Glenfield Hospital.

Two teams, the Glenfield Outreach and the acute stroke multidisciplinary team from the emergency department, were also honoured along with a group of volunteers who help support patients with dementia - receiving a highly commended in the volunteer of the year category.

The publicly-nominated ‘Caring at its Best’ award was won by Mandy McCallister, a midwife in maternity services at Leicester General Hospital.

She was nominated by a mum for looking after her and her partner when she gave birth to a stillborn daughter.

Karamjit Singh, chairman of Leicester’s Hospitals, attended the awards and congratulated the winners. He said: “I would like to thank our esteemed judging panel who have had a very difficult task to choose between the many outstanding nominees this year. The standard has been very high and undoubtedly shows caring at its best.

“I am very proud as always to be part of this wonderful event as we recognise staff and volunteers for their contributions to our organisation, their colleagues and of