Domestics aim to clean up at awards
THREE separate domestic and portering colleagues working at Stepping Hill Hospital have been shortlisted for national awards honouring outstanding service.
Domestic staff Tracy Boswell and Mike Mantle have been shortlisted for this year’s MyCleaning Awards, while portering administrator Denise Starr has been shortlisted for the MyPorter award, both hosted by GV Healthcare in association with NHS England to recognise the best in healthcare support across the country.
Mike Mantle is up for the ‘Domestic of the Year’ award. He works as a domestic on the hospital Acute Frailty Unit, ensuring that everything stays clean and runs smoothly on the ward, ensuring a five-star standard of cleanliness.
Mike recently spent his fifth Christmas Day in a row working on the ward, which he enjoys each year and even sings for the patients.
He was one of the first domestic staff to volunteer working on a Covid-19 positive ward during the pandemic, and is described by colleagues as both a joy to work with, and someone who always does his best to make the patient experience positive.
Tracy Boswell is a cleanliness training and monitoring officer, and has been shortlisted for the ‘Auditor of the Year’ award.
She delivers monitoring audits whilst also diligently providing training for a team of over 200.
Tracy has been key to setting up new cleaning monitoring systems across the hospital which keep to the recently upgraded National Standards of Cleaning.
She has worked tirelessly in preparing and putting into place the new standards, helping to ensure all domestic staff are on board in a helpful and positive way.
Denise Starr is a portering administrator, and is shortlisted for the ‘Dennis Southern Lifetime Achievement’ award. She has been working for almost twenty years helping to organise the busy daily schedule of porters across Stepping Hill Hospital, and has continued to show her dedication, unwavering support and calming influence even through the trying times of the pandemic.
Denise is described by the team as the ‘agony aunt’ of the department who is always ready to lend a sympathetic ear for anyone who is feeling down, and whose ‘can do’ attitude is an inspiration to others.
Paul Featherstone, Director of Estates for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust said “Denise, Tracy and Mike each show the very best qualities we look for in our domestic and portering staff, performing outstandingly in their roles which are vital to the running of the hospital and the healthcare we provide.
“To have all three shortlisted is really fantastic and much deserved, and we wish them all the best for the awards.”
The MyPorter Awards are taking place on February 21, instead, and the MyCleaning Awards on February 22, at the Salsa Temple venue in Embankment, Central London. Stockport NHS Foundation Trust is the one of only three trusts to have multiple shortlisted entries across both awards events.