Publish date: 14 February 2024
Northumbria Healthcare Facilities Management celebrate nominations in the MyPorter and MyCleaning Awards
Northumbria Healthcare Facilities Management, the estates and facilities subsidiary of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is celebrating not one but three award shortlists.
This includes two shortlists for the MyPorter Awards and one shortlist for the MyCleaning Awards.
Wansbeck General Hospital’s portering team have been shortlisted for the Portering Team of the Year Award and Paul Green has been shortlisted for The Dennis Southern Lifetime Achievement Award. Kerry Lansbury has also been shortlisted for The Leadership of the Year Award at the MyCleaning Awards.
Both award ceremonies were established to celebrate the hard work of porters and domestics and to also give praise for the role they play in a patient’s journey whether that’s directly or indirectly.
The portering team at Wansbeck has been recognised in the Portering Team of the Year category for going above and beyond to make patients feel welcome and at ease while in hospital.
Charlene Sturgeon, head porter, who nominated the portering team for the award said: “The team really go above and beyond to make patients feel at home. One porter even visited over 10 shops in her own time to find some Barr’s Cloudy Lemonade for an end-of-life patient just because she told her she fancied some.
“As well as doing their best for patients and staff, they also do their best for each other with team members raising money for charity outside of work.”
Paul Green, porter at Wansbeck has been shortlisted for the Dennis Southern Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Dennis Southern Lifetime Achievement Award was created in honour of Northumbria porter Dennis Southern. Dennis was nominated for the MyPorter Award in 2020 but sadly Dennis passed away from cancer just 2 weeks before the closing of the awards. It was decided that a new award would be created for the MyPorter Awards 2021 in honour of Dennis to celebrate him and embody his morals, ethics and outlook.
Described as ‘respectful and humble’, Paul started his career straight out of school in the old post room at the old Ashington Hospital in 1975 and almost 50 years later is still an integral part of the team working as a porter.
Rosie Sexton, people and engagement lead at NHFM who nominated Paul for the award said: “Like Dennis, Paul shows commitment, dedication, passion and care. He’s a true Northumbria Porter who puts patients at the centre of everything he does. Colleagues have branded Paul a legend and someone to look up to.”
Kerry Lansbury, domestic superintendent at The Northumbria Hospital was nominated for the Leadership of the Year award at the MyCleaning Awards.
Like Paul, Kerry started her career straight after finishing school as a domestic assistant and has since progressed to a domestic superintendent. Kerry manages the domestic services team at the Northumbria Hospital in Cramlington, who work hard to ensure that rooms are turned around quickly after discharges, so they are ready for the next patients and ensuring that areas are cleaned to a high standard 24/7.
Reflecting on her nomination Kerry said: “I am delighted to have been nominated for this award. This nomination reflects the hard work of the domestic team, and I am really fortunate to work in a very supportive team.”
Thrilled about the news of three award shortlists, Damon Kent, managing director of NHFM said: “Three award shortlists are an outstanding achievement for the Wansbeck portering team, Paul, and Kerry. For their hard work to be recognised on a national scale shows how dedicated they are to improving the experience of our patients.”
Media contact
Emily Lavin, marketing and communications officer
emily.lavin@northumbria-healthcare.nhs.uk or 07887985929