Nurse wins public vote for top award

Sally Edwards, Gastro IBD Specialist Nurse based at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH), won the Patient Choice Award, which was voted for by members of the public. It was one of 11 awards given out by the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) to celebrate the outstanding achievements and contributions of its staff to deliver high quality care to patients.

The Public Choice Award is the only award to be voted for by the public, and saw Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Mr Stuart Hay and the Fracture Clinic Team and Senior Paediatric Audiologist Faye Perring highly commended.

The VIP (Values in Practice) Awards celebrate the outstanding achievements and contributions of the Trust’s staff to deliver high quality care to patients. There are 11 categories that highlight the efforts of more than 5,000 staff and around 1,000 volunteers.

Sally, who lives in Shrewsbury, has worked with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) patients for the last five years. She is determined to help make a difference to the lives of those who suffer from the debilitating disease. Sally also runs a one hour daily advice line for IBD sufferers, who can also leave voice messages 24 hours a day for her.

Sally said: “I’m delighted to have won the award. I had a lovely evening at the awards ceremony, it was inspiring hearing about how so many people at SaTH go above and beyond their job role to help others and improve services. I would like to thank Dr Butterworth, and Crohn’s and Colitis UK (Shropshire and mid Wales branch) and our IBD patient panel for their help and support. I would also like to say thank you to everyone who took the time to vote for me.”

The awards ceremony, hosted by BBC Radio Shropshire presenter Vicki Archer, was held at the Albrighton Hall Hotel near Shrewsbury, and saw staff from all parts of the Trust - along with some of its fantastic volunteers – attend.

The 2017 VIP award winners also included: Kindest Award - Jackie Jones; Safest Award -Team JAG; Bright Star Award - Sarah Edmonds; Transforming Care Award - Rachel Williams; Leadership for Change Award - Ann Allsop; Team of the Year Award - Radiotherapy & Medical Physics Team; Unsung Hero Award - Colin Brewer; Learner of the Year - Martyn Henefer; Volunteer of the Year - Jameela Sheikh and VIP Award - Paediatric Team.

Simon Wright, Chief Executive, said: “Once again we received hundreds of worthy nominations and picking the finalists was no easy task. That is testament to the fantastic work that takes place in our Trust and I want to thank all of our staff for the hard work and dedication that they put into their job every day.”