BWC Spirit Awards

Elmarie has been a lifeline for our family. Since taking over my son’s care after his Mitrofanoff and ACE (antegrade continence enema) surgery, she’s done her utmost by taking time exploring every possible solution for him and making us feel genuinely supported. No issue is too big or small, and she always explains things clearly to both of us. My son lights up when he knows he’s seeing her. She listens, celebrates every win, and boosts his confidence like no one else. Her warmth, patience, and dedication have made a huge difference in our lives. 

For us, hospital visits can be traumatic, but Elmarie changes that. She welcomes us with a smile and always takes time to speak to Teddy as a child, not just a patient. Over the past three years, even through ups, downs, and disagreements, her care and support have never faltered. I trust her completely, not just with Teddy, but with any of my children. She’s one of the very best doctors we’ve ever met. 

My son Rowan has known Elmarie since he was a baby, and their bond has only grown stronger. Hospital visits cause him a lot of anxiety, but Elmarie always knows how to help — playing with dinosaurs to ease his nerves or carrying him in her arms to theatre after a meltdown. He trusts her deeply, and so do we. Watching her comfort him even as he went under anaesthesia made our hearts full. 

Elmarie is more than a doctor, she’s a gift to our children and families. Thank you. 

 

WINNER — Dr Nudrat Rizvi, Washwood Heath Health and Wellbeing Centre, FTB — Nudrat has a deep understanding of autism and is always advocating for the inclusion of patients and staff with ADHD, learning disabilities, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). She knows that many people with ASD also experience gender, eating and sensory issues. Nudrat supports them with great care, offering LGBTQ+ resources and she also educated the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) on how to utilize the right resources like Marmad Charity to support these young people with their gender identities.

Cultural Awareness Team, BCH — “The team has been a fantastic catalyst to help me more thoroughly consider how I can support other people in my work and personal life, and absolutely to live life in a more compassionate way, ensuring that I am considerate, respectful, and inclusive, and also represent the Trust as such.”

Lorenzo Magini, Trainee Clinical Scientist, BWH — Lorenzo has brought together a range of 8 different professionals from across the 3 divisions to show our diversity, cultural journeys, and diverse countries and how our personal experiences can determine where we go. By doing this it supported and challenged biases, educating others on what is behind the identity of the titles we hold and challenging the perceptions that others can have. All of these are our values as a Trust.

WINNER — Ellie Brewer - Bereavement Team, BWH — "Ellie came to us to take on a new role for the Bereavement Team at the Women's Hospital 2 years ago, before her role existed the team did not have the capacity to develop bereavement care within the Gynaecology directorate. She had not worked in women's health prior to this and took on the huge challenge of having to learn about a wide array of healthcare such as histopathology, genetics, and early pregnancy loss. She was brave and dived into this world so that she could learn and provide the best care for our bereaved families experiencing early pregnancy loss. She is passionate about women's experiences and raising standards of care and support for clinical teams."

Aaliyah Tariq, Pharmacy, BCH — "It is my honour to nominate Aaliyah for the Unsung Hero Award. As an accredited checking technician in our outpatient pharmacy, she embodies our trust values of compassion, ambition, and bravery in remarkable ways.

Working in a paediatric hospital requires a special kind of empathy and understanding, and she consistently goes above and beyond to ensure that every young patient and their family feels supported. Her warm demeanour and patient-centric approach have made a significant difference in the lives of countless families, providing them with the comfort and assurance they need during challenging times. She is always ready to lend an ear, offer a kind word, and provide personalised care, making her an invaluable asset to our team."

Isabel Morgan, Vital Services — "Isabel joined the supervisory team in facilities in August 2023 and has grown from strength to strength ever since. Isabel is a dedicated member of the team who goes above and beyond in her role, whether this is looking after staff wellbeing or being out on the wards getting stuck in with the staff. Isabel has organised multiple events for the facilities staff, across all sites, such as Facilities Day 2024 where she led sports day and 'The Great Facilities Bake Off'. No matter the task, Isabel exceeds expectations and does it with a smile on her face. She has led the team across all three hospital sites, and actively took part in every department; taking on switchboard shifts to help with staffing issues, being on the shop floor when the housekeepers need her and helping the porters with their duties. Isabel upholds the trust values to an outstanding level; no task is too big for her, she rises to any challenges she faces and actively cares for staff and patient wellbeing. Isabel has a bright future within our trust and is more than capable of achieving this, her 'can do' attitude makes her shine and she deserves recognition for this." 

WINNER — Keller Team, BWH — "The Keller Team are leading an exceptional service for women, babies and their families. They have been providing midwifery continuity of carer (MCoC) since January 2020, and in the last six months have ambitiously transformed the service to provide the most vulnerable women in South Birmingham the best possible care."

"They bravely advocated for us as a couple and our baby to ensure our continuity of care was upheld in the face of challenges. Their inclusivity of us as a couple and a whole family unit shines through at every appointment. Their consistency of excellent care was evident from the first antenatal visit to the last post-natal one. If someone I loved told me they were being looked after by the Keller Team, I would feel happy knowing they were in ambitious brave compassionate and safe hands."

FTB Learning Disabilities and DICE, MHS — "FTB LD and DICE are amazing MDTs who work together to provide a mental health service offering support, care and treatment for children and young people with a learning disability or autism and their families. The Learning Disability and DICE are a specialist service within Forward Thinking Birmingham."

Palliative Care Team, BCH — "They care for children across every department at the children's hospital site supporting medical teams with symptom control,  challenging and emotive discussions, end-of-life planning, MDTs, the writing of ACPs, escalation and symptom management care. They also support rapid discharges into the community, including organising hospice care and 24-hour palliative care support in the home to support the patient and family. They also attend patient clinics to provide continuing support, as well as providing trust-wide education."

WINNER — Dr Parida, PICU & Pharmacy, BCH— Dr Parida and the PICU and Pharmacy team were nominated for the speedy diagnosis and treatment of patient Baby Tom, who had an extremely rare condition. Tom arrived at PICU at just 6 months old and had doctors puzzled with his symptoms. When he came to the Children's Hospital, Tom declined rapidly and became extremely unwell. He was completely paralysed. Dr Parida’s knowledge came through as he diagnosed botulism, so rare that only 19 children have been diagnosed in the UK and no one in the hospital had seen it before. But once the diagnosis was established the team acted quickly to provide the right treatment, and swiftly organised for the correct medication to be sent from the only place in the world that made the antitoxin in California, USA.

Tom’s mum said: “Dr Parida did not only excel medically. From day one, we felt like we were on his team. He was extremely sympathetic, patient and generous, answering our endless questions with a great level of detail, honesty and reassurance. He was kind, thorough, and brilliant at his job, as were the whole team in PICU. We felt amazed and grateful for every interaction we had with the nurses and doctors at PICU. They made the most terrifying journey as manageable as it could have been."

Burns Team, BC — The Burns ward were nominated for helping a young patient with autism who had a fear of coming into hospital. Arthur had been burned on the cooker at home, and after an experience when he was very young he had developed a phobia of hospitals. The team on the Burns Ward made adaptations for Arthur and worked as a team to make him feel comfortable and happy. The team alleviated his fears and now Arthur looks forward to checkups as he gets to see the team again, particularly Play Worker, Wayne.

Arthur's mum said: "Wayne was so patient, so gentle, so kind, so full of fun, and always knew when to step back and just made Arthur feel so safe. I can't express how far above and beyond he went"

"The staff at BCH have changed Arthur's life moving forward by showing him that hospitals and doctors aren't scary and that he can even enjoy the experience. I can't state this strongly enough. I walked out today with tears in my eyes, because I couldn't believe the transformation. 

"The fact that my son has gone from too hysterical to receive any treatment, to walking into an appointment unmedicated and smiling is just breathtaking to me. All of that is down to your staff.”

Venesia Henry, BWH — Venesia was nominated for her care of Ellarae while she was on the neonatal ward and beyond. As well as her care of baby, she also looked after Mum with words of support and encouragement.

Mum said: “She gave me strength at my darkest of times. From the moment I was on neonatal when my daughter was just born Venesia was a constant support to me and my family I was dealing with being a new mom and having to look after a poorly baby.

"Ellarae is nearly 2 and still to this day she shows up in support of her she attended her christening which meant so much to me and my family, and a charity night which we held a few days ago to thank people like Venesia for the work they do.”

She's even climbing Snowden to raise money for the neonatal ward. What a hero."

WINNER — Angela Salmon, BCH — "Angela identified that there was more to this request: the individual had reached out because an unexpected change in personal circumstances meant they were at immediate risk of becoming homeless.

Angela took immediate action to seek a solution, investigating options and requesting flexibility in applying Trust policies so that this colleague could be helped. Over a couple of very challenging days for the individual, Angela worked to find a solution, keeping in touch with the individual at every step and maintaining their dignity."

Janet Evans, MHS — "Janet has worked at Parkview since its inception and has become the 'Oracle' and the heart of Parkview. This nomination is to show not only our thanks for all of her experience, wisdom and gratitude but also that, as she is front-facing, she is the person that young people see as they arrive, our visitors and staff as they enter Parkview for the first time. 

This can be a very daunting and scary experience for our young people and families and she offers them a safe, friendly, efficient experience and the feedback that we get is always positive. Janet is hugely compassionate, she will ensure that she does her most to seek support requested for all, offering good communications across the clinic and having wellbeing for all of the staff at the heart of what she does."

Victoria Hodgetts-Morton, BWH — "Vicky is our preterm prevention consultant. She is very passionate about the care she delivers for our women. Every Tuesday we have a preterm birth clinic and she always spends great time and energy ensuring the women's needs are met and questions answered. She is a great leader and ensures we as a team come together and introduces us to patients who may require extra support. Our service provides support to women and birthing people who have suffered pregnancy losses, or have had previous cervical surgery, or pre-term births.

Essentially any woman who is at risk of going into preterm birth or having a loss. We look after these patients with regular scans, cervical stitches or infection screening and a lot of compassion and reassurance."

WINNER — Lisa Butcher, Natalie Powell, and Dawn James —  “Lisa Butcher, Lead Nurse for Dermatology and Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) and Natalie Powell, Inclusion Ambassador, have championed a first-of-its-kind project improving personal hair and skin care for Black and mixed heritage patients while they are in hospital. The project aims to make personal care more inclusive for those staying on wards.”

Dr Nudrat Rizvi —  “I am excited to nominate Nudrat for the Brighter Futures Award in recognition of her exceptional dedication to young people with autism and neurodiversity. Nudrat embodies our values of Ambition, Bravery, and Compassion, significantly enhancing our team's ability to provide effective care.

Recruitment Team: International Workforce Team — "I came to the UK all alone with no family and it was really hard at the beginning but the support I received from the Trust meant a lot to me. I received financial assistance and accommodation when I initially moved over here which was so great. My team have also been so lovely and supportive. I feel proud at how far I have come. I absolutely love my job, and I feel so settled now.” The programme supports nurses and midwives moving to the UK to join our Women's Hospital, Children's Hospital and Mental Health Services. 

WINNER - Sue Hobday, Medical Records - Head of Patient Admin Services