Last night the Trust held its annual colleague recognition event the ‘Star Awards’ for 2022, providing an opportunity for everyone in every team and setting and across all our services to pause and reflect on everything that has been achieved over the past year.
And not just reflect, actually, but actively celebrate our successes and say thank you to all colleagues who go above and beyond for our patients and their families each and every day and night of every year.
It was an amazing experience for us in the studio and judging by the comments and feedback, it looks like everyone watching enjoyed it too.
In just 90 short minutes, we heard about so much incredible work that is going on in every corner of the Trust and within our communities by colleagues who are passionate, determined and driven to not only provide safe, personal and effective care – but to refine and improve it where they can too.
I never doubted it, of course, but to see and hear so many powerful stories in such a short space of time was quite overwhelming.
The awards have traditionally been held in a local hotel or venue designed to bring people together to celebrate over a nice meal and a few drinks, with entertainment and dancing afterwards, creating lots of fun and laughter and memories for those nominated
On this point, I want to say this was largely down to the event founder and former chair of the Star Awards Lynn Barton. A friend and colleague who sadly passed this week, so I wanted to mention and pay tribute, as well as my respects as part of the blog. My thoughts and condolences are with Lynn’s family and friends, including those throughout ELHT, at this time.
Last year after postponing the event twice due to Covid, we held them virtually for the first time. It wasn’t perfect but I was keen to make sure we did something to recognise colleagues and so we did our best.
I was worried this year about being virtual again. The awards are important and I wanted those nominated to feel special and to be excited and so only after a lot of soul searching about balancing our aims with the safest format did we opt to stick with an online ceremony again.
In hindsight, it turned out to be a great decision and not least because we continue to see rising Covid numbers in our communities and people admitted to hospital who have the virus so infection prevention control is once more pivotal to our success.
I shared in the blog last week that this impacts on out inpatient settings and pathways around the hospital, making it much more challenging to operate effectively. We also, of course, have colleagues off with Covid or self-isolating at a very pressured time, so I don’t think we would have risked holding a physical event right now.
I do think though, and not withstanding all of that, the virtual format worked really, really well this time and, again, reading the feedback it would seem most people would agree.
Those who nominated colleagues, were nominated themselves or who appeared as finalists did feel special and part of it and it was exciting and moving and humbling all at the same time.
I loved that I was able to connect directly with the finalists through the live links to their homes and see their genuine reaction in the exact moment when they realised they had won. It was lovely to be part of that and to see how much people valued being recognised.
I loved also that people were able to choose themselves how they wanted to celebrate. Some colleagues got dressed up and were hosting an awards party of their own, others were watching and enjoying the evening with family and small children who could never have shared it with them in the past and might not have heard the sincere tributes being paid to them in their nomination.
It was great to see faces light up as winners were described and then announced. The excitement and pure pride was palpable, even when we were technically miles away.
So, in true awards ceremony style, I want to say a couple of ‘thank you’s’ of my own.
To everyone who took the time to write and submit a nomination – thank you. The detail, the tributes and the testimony was so honest and moving I think we were all humbled to hear it. Without this we couldn’t do anything at all and I know it can be tricky to find the time, so it’s appreciated.
To the winners – wow! What amazing people we have working in ELHT – there’s just no other word for it. I helped to judge a number of categories and the strength of the nominations absolutely blew me away. I also want to say thank you for being so magnanimous in victory, it was truly touching to see people somewhere between lost for words and sharing their success with the team around them. It was also clear most people were overwhelmed with the accolade as they thought they were ‘just doing their job’.
To our finalists who didn’t take away a trophy – and indeed, everyone in ELHT – as I said last night you’re all important members of the team and we couldn’t do any of it without you. Thank you for everything you contribute, day in, day out, for our patients and our families.
And lastly, but by no means least, the teams behind the scenes who worked so incredibly hard to get everything ready, prepped and prepared to make the awards the best they could be. In particular, I want to mention colleagues in communications, HR, the Trust’s Staff Guardian and Trust Board colleagues who were suitably suited and booted to ensure the whole thing felt so special.
I note by this morning we’d had over 1,500 views of the show and I know this will rise as people watch it over the weekend and in days to come. We would simply never reach this many people with the traditional ‘do’ and it’s great we’re sharing such a feel good moment far and wide.
If you haven’t already seen it, please do have a look here. If ever there was a demonstration of the spirit of ELHT this year’s Star Awards is it. Let me know what you think too as we plan, as always, to improve for next year.
Martin