Patients’ Choice: who wins? You decide
06 August 2018
Hospital Heroes
The annual awards evening for Hospital Heroes takes place on Friday 28 September, as part of the evening there is the always hotly contested Patients’ Choice award.
It is a very special award as it is both nominated by patients
and voted on by them and the great Essex public. Voting for it is
taking place here on the Southend Hospital website, across our
Facebook and Twitter pages and through the Echo newspaper and its
website.
Last year there were over 16,000 votes and, as ever, it is a
fantastically difficult category to call and features three
shortlisted nominees who would all make deserving winners on the
evening. They can only win with your vote though.
You can make your vote here and voting closes at 9am on Tuesday 28
August, with the winner announced at the awards ceremony.
But, before you decide who gets your vote here are the Patients'
Choice finalists for 2018…
Dr Thomas Keeble, Consultant Cardiologist
Dr Keeble received 29 nominations from members of the public,
over half of the total nominations received in total this year,
praising him for his outstanding care.
Below are some comments from the nominators:
"Following four cardiac arrests, caused by a heart attack, I
first met Dr Keeble when I was in hospital. He has a fantastic bed
side manner, takes time at appointments to listen and assess, and
goes out of his way to be available to his patients.
"He demonstrates an understanding of how we feel, the
overwhelming trials that we survivors face psychologically and
emotionally as well as physically. I trust him, and feel safe in
his care, and for me that's top of my list of wants about a
Doctor."
"A true NHS superstar, one of a kind that has a heart of gold,
thank you Doctor Tom."
"The hospital could benefit from hundreds of Doctor Keeble(s),
FANTASTIC Man."
Of his nomination, Doctor Keeble said: ""It is an incredible
honour to be nominated for the Hospital Heroes award from patients
that I have treated, and I am grateful to all of them. I try to
give each and every patient time to understand and explore their
diagnosis, investigation and treatment options, being sensitive to
the patient's opinions and getting the right tests and treatments
for the right patient, and reassuring when I can.
"I will continue to put the patient at the heart of everything
that I do, developing innovative clinics and novel treatment
pathways to those at the greatest need, trying to improve patient
experience and quality of life."
Christina Kinsella, Physiotherapist
"I was a patient in the Balmoral ward late 2017 early 2018 and
had my left leg amputated above the knee. It was the most traumatic
time of my life. The staff from Balmoral Ward, from consultants,
nurses, doctors to cleaners, catering staff and volunteer visitors
were fantastic and I could have nominated so many of them.
"The person who has had the most profound effect on me has been
Christina. I was in a horrible place during and after the
operations, I was having terrible reactions to morphine and other
painkillers, quite frankly I wanted to die. I was uncooperative
with rehab staff, but Christina persevered and coaxed me out of my
despair and made me want to recover and even dream of walking
again.
"This has continued to this day at the walking clinic and it
never ceases to amaze me how it works with all the amputee
patients, particularly the senior patients.
"Christina communicates in a marvellously caring way and many
patients feel the confidence to confide in her. She is simply a
fantastic asset to Southend Hospital working in a role that is
often overlooked. She should be immensely proud of herself as we
are proud of her."
Discovering she had been shortlisted for a Patients' Choice
Award, Christina said: "I am truly honoured and humbled to be
nominated for this award. The real heroes are those experiencing
the horrific life changing events of an amputation and it's the NHS
team as a whole that support these patients."
Southbourne Ward
"I am the carer for my husband who has had repeated emergency
admissions to Southbourne over the past five years.
"Each time he has been critically ill and had inpatient stays of
varying lengths, all requiring high levels of care and attention.
Some of the staff who were working on the ward from the outset of
my husband's problems have now moved on but what has remained is
the high level of care, the reassurance during desperately worrying
times.
"Upon each admission, my husband has been greeted with kindness,
as indeed have I. All members of staff have worked collaboratively
with me as a partner in the care and recovery process. I am sure
that this recognition has been instrumental in improving his
health. Not only the above, we have been able to really engage,
sometimes have a laugh and a hug when it all gets too much.
"A key, fundamental part of my husband's care is how he feels.
He feels confident and in very safe hands in Southbourne and knows
that everyone will do their level best to provide excellent and
compassionate care."
Hearing about the nomination for the ward, Ward Manager Maria
Webb said: "It's a real honour and I know this will really help
boost morale as everyone works together really hard. We are a true
team and I know I speak for every single member of staff on our
ward - be it nurse, doctor, HCA, ward clerk or food stewards - when
I say that it is great to be recognised by a relative for all the
hard work we do. It really means a lot."