UHL Celebrates its annual recognition awards

UHL colleagues gathered at the Athena in Leicester for a special night of celebration for the 2023 Recognition Awards, with 16 winners named from a field of 500 nominees.

The awards included individuals and teams nominated by colleagues and the public, with the team in the Neonatal team at Leicester General Hospital winning the coveted Patient’s Choice Award for their tireless efforts with newborns and their families. 

The evening was rounded off with the awarding of the Chair’s Award to the Chaplaincy Team, who also won the Valuing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion category for their tireless work in providing religious, spiritual and pastoral support to patients, visitors and staff. The winner of the Chair’s Award was selected by Trust Chair John MacDonald from the 15 category winners. ” 

The Neonatal Team were nominated by the mother of a patient who was born prematurely at 27 weeks, and spent three months at the hospital before being discharged: “You are superheroes, and Eden will know every single one of your names as she grows up and is told about the story of how she came into this world.” 

The Chaplaincy Team was praised by its nominee for its commitment to diversity and inclusion: “Chaplaincy’s focus is and has been for some considerable time ensuring the hospitals patients, staff and visitors have exactly the right religious, spiritual and non religious support for them and their individual needs. As a team it has been an outlier in its recruitment of non religious and minority faith chaplains, and is headed up by a Sikh in a service historically managed by Anglicans.” 

While the category winners were the focus for much of the evening, those who were nominated for awards without winning were just as proud to be recognised. 

Esme Henry-Wilkins, who was nominated in the Bank Appreciation category, said: ““I was totally lost for words when I found that I had been nominated for this award.  I felt very honoured, privileged, and touched by the kind words.  All I do is try and to give 100% to our patients and their families and be supportive of the team in any way I can.” 

Dr Gary Stiefel was nominated for the Excellence in Research category, and was pleased for his whole team: “It’s great to be nominated but, more importantly, it raises the profile of paediatric research at UHL, as well as recognises all the amazing work the whole Paediatric Research Team does.” 

A big thank you to our award sponsors and supporters:Ergéa, Cubiquity, B Braun, Charles Henry and Sons, Kings Real Estate, Leicester Hospitals Charity and Mills & Reeve. 

Full List of Winners 

Bank Appreciation Award: Sanjay Kotadia 

Compassionate Leader Award: Laura Willcocks 

Digital Champion Award: eMeds Team 

Education and Professional Development Award: Sarah Lockwood-Lee  

Excellence in Research Award: Linzy Houchen-Wolloff 

Green Impact Award: Clare Suart 

Innovation Award: Heather Mackinnon & Dr Rizwan Rehman  

Outstanding Contribution Award (Individual) – Clinical: Kirsty Harris-Spence 

Outstanding Contribution Award (Individual) – Non-Clinical: Batsirai Mashiri 

Outstanding Contribution Award (Team) – Clinical: Emergency Department 

Outstanding Contribution Award (Team) – Non-Clinical: RTT Improvement Team 

Valuing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award: The Chaplaincy Team 

Volunteer of the Year: Ruth Johnson 

Young Adult Learner of the Year: Maleeha Riaz 

Patient’s Choice Award: Neonatal Team – LGH 

Chair’s Award: The Chaplaincy Team 

For more information, please email: [email protected]