FERMANAGH’S healthcare heroes were honoured by the Western Trust at a special ceremony in Omagh last week.
Over 200 staff and guests gathered at the Silver Birch Hotel on April 4th for the Trust’s Special Recognition Awards. Scores of local staff were recognised across nine categories, which celebrated the care, innovation, leadership, and excellent services delivered by the individuals and teams.
Among them were Betty Vance Lavigne, staff nurse at the SWAH neonatal unit, who was named the Trust’s ‘Frontline Champion of the Year’, and the teams from both the Fermanagh Hospital at Home service and the SWAH emergency department (ED) team, which were the joint winners of the ‘Patient/Service User Outcome and Experience Award.’
Outgoing chairman of the Western Trust board, Sam Pollock, said he was delighted to hear the “incredible innovative and inspirational nominations from individual staff and teams” across the Trust.
“Thank you for everything you do and congratulations on your outstanding achievement,” he said.
Trust chief executive, Neil Guckian, said it was “humbling” to be amongst colleagues who “continued to evolve and improve our services and provide compassionate and quality care during such an unprecedented time for healthcare.”
“Whilst it’s great to recognise successes or significant achievements at our awards ceremony, I also think about the contributions our staff make on a daily basis,” he said.
“They’ve each delivered or supported care, faced new challenges and found alternative ways to overcome them. All this, whilst showing a continued commitment, loyalty and dedication to delivering the best services possible.”
The awards were compared by weatherman Barra Best, and among those to present the awards were Department of Health permanent secretary Peter May, who expressed his “heartfelt gratitude and thanks on behalf of myself and the Department.”
Congratulating the winners, Mr May said, “The recipients of the awards are some of the very best people that the health and social care services have, and are examples of how individuals and teams in the HSC are working to deliver excellent services, which have the patient at their heart.
“The professionalism, dedication and compassion shown by the people working in health and social care services never ceases to amaze. The number of staff who go the extra mile to look after a patient or client, help a colleague, or develop better ways of working speaks volumes about the people that work in health and social care services at all levels.”
For more photos of the many local winners from the awards ceremony, see next week’s Fermanagh Herald.
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