Publish date: 29 March 2023
Awards success highlights breadth of staff efforts across Northumbria Healthcare
Two specialty doctors from Northumbria Healthcare landed regional prizes earlier this month to kick off an award-winning run for the NHS trust.
The organisation had two winners at the regional conference and award ceremony to celebrate SAS doctors and dentists across the North East and Cumbria on Friday, March 17, ahead of Northumbria representation at three other awards ceremonies the following week.
The SAS event was the second of its kind hosted by Health Education England North East and was organised by the SAS tutors from across the region, including Northumbria’s Zoe Robertson.
And Zoe ended up taking home the Teaching and Training prize, while anaesthetics colleague Muzzammil Majid won the Outstanding Clinical Skills award.
The event also heard from Charlie Massey, the chief executive of the General Medical Council (GMC), who spoke about the importance of SAS doctors in the NHS.
SAS doctors is a term for specialty and specialist grade doctors with at least four years of postgraduate training, two of which are in a relevant specialty.
The GMC’s most recent annual report showed that SAS and locally employed doctors are the fastest growing group of doctors in the UK and that, by 2030, they could be the largest group in the medical workforce overall.
Zoe said: “Muzzy (Dr Majid) has spent such a long time at the trust, training and teaching so many over the years, so this prize is great recognition of all he has contributed over his career.
“I’m really grateful to be SAS tutor as it’s such a lovely role to have; with 48 SAS doctors across 14 specialties, it’s a really diverse workforce that is very much the backbone of Northumbria.”
The trust was also successful at last week’s (Thursday, March 23) Bright Ideas in Health Awards, landing nominations in five different categories, with two converted into wins.
It landed the top prize in the Innovation in Clinical Education category for its MDT Fetal Wellbeing Education Programme.
This scheme was designed to improve maternity care by focusing on a multi-disciplinary approach and providing teams with a safe space to reflect on the way they work.
The Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing and Innovation Hub won the Contribution to Sustainable 
The hub has now produced more than 2.2 million hospital gowns while also diversifying into scrubs, theatre hoods, pillows, upholstery and embroidery services for the NHS.
Continuing the success, the Berwick district nursing team was in the running for the Wound Care Nurse of the Year prize at the British Journal of Nursing Awards on Friday (March 24) for its ongoing project to improve patient care. The team ended up taking home the bronze award.
Finally, on the same night, Susan Devlin, a member of the trust’s speech and language therapy team was shortlisted in the Outstanding Community Inclusion category at the AAC 2023 awards, which seek to showcase and celebrate the work carried out with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC or communication aids).
She supports the team to provide the right communication aids and apps for those with conditions like Parkinson’s or motor neurone disease, who often require help to maintain their communication skills and perhaps learn to communicate with a new aid as their condition deteriorates.
Media contact
Ben O’Connell, media and communications officer, Northumbria Healthcare
Benjamin.O'Connell@northumbria-healthcare.nhs.uk or 07833 046680.