Birmingham Children’s Hospital Gastroenterology team take home coveted PAFTA award
Our Children’s Hospital’s Gastroenterology team have been awarded Best Training Unit in the coveted West Midlands Annual Paediatric Awards For Training Achievements (PAFTAs).
Dr Sue Protheroe, Consultant Paediatric Gastroenterologist and Education Lead for Gastroenterology sat down with us to talk about the accolade and about the team of consultants and allied health care professionals that she helped set up over 25 years ago.
Dr Protheroe said: “As a team we are just so proud to get this award. It is an honour to be recognised for our efforts at training doctors and other colleagues in our area of Gastroenterology and Nutrition.
“We have a training programme that ensures doctors get appropriate teaching at every level. We aim to balance training opportunities with the demands of service delivery for our patients and families at the same time. Recognising that balance is really important .”
“We focus on colleagues’ individual needs and give them mentoring and expert career advice to get them on the right track, which they say that they don’t always receive,. Many return to work with us and also work in the majority of centres in the UK. ”
“We're proud to be a team that sees professionals listening to each other and being valued, and respected. We appreciate our diverse team, with overseas Fellows, AHP’s , and deanery doctors learning from each other and we all work very well together.”
The Gastroenterology team support patients who have stomach or intestine issues including patients with conditions like Intestinal Failure and IBD (Inflammatory bowel Disease).
Dr Protheroe shared “We have a very holistic and empathic attitude towards the families in that they don't always just have a gastro problem. They may also have learning, social or developmental difficulties.
“We pay attention to all of their needs in managing a patient and family’s whole pathway including access to education and psychological support, which is really important.”
Dr Protheroe and the team were nominated for the PAFTA award by a colleague, who they trained in Gastroenterology.
She added: “I believe the hallmark of our team is that it's a multidisciplinary team that individually welcomes the doctors at induction when they join the team. It is really important that they feel welcomed and valued, and we're really pleased to have them. I think that’s what makes our team stand out and why we were recognised in these awards.”
The PAFTAs are prestigious awards that recognise the very best colleagues and training centres in paediatric training in the West Midlands deanery
For more information about what our Gastroenterology team do check out our website Gastroenterology and Nutrition | Birmingham Women's and Children's