New Year's honour for QMC's Yvonne
A reception coordinator at Queen's Medical Centre has been awarded the British Empire Medal for her service at Nottingham University Hospitals.
Yvonne Key has worked for NUH for the last 30 years and is one of the friendly faces which welcome over 20,000 visitors a day at the QMC front desk.
Yvonne, from Clifton, said: "I was completely gobsmacked to find out that I had been nominated and was going to be awarded a national honours in the New Year for my contributions at NUH.
"Initially when I received the letter I thought someone was pulling my leg. I love my job and it is nice for me in my role to recognise staff and to be recognised, and celebrate successes with them."
Yvonne will be presented with the medal by the Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire at a local ceremony in the New Year. The award is for those who have given meritorious civil service worthy of recognition by the Crown.
She added: "After working for the last nine years at Queen's I feel so lucky and honoured to have known and met some of the fantastic people I do, especially when I have worked with the people that I have."
Yvonne initially started on a three month contract in 1987 and is now in charge of coordinating a team of five reception staff, with over 100 years' experience between them, and over 30 Trust volunteers.
The 60-year-old who has no plans to retire any time soon has worked across several departments during her NHS career. She said: "I started in central bookings before moving onto the fracture clinic, which had the largest team of consultants in the country and is where Prince Charles attended after breaking his arm. From here I worked for 13 years as a receptionist coordinator in Trauma and Orthopaedics helping to improve service efficiency. I then worked in Children's audiology at Ropewalk before heading back to QMC where I was hired to work in the admissions office, before moving back to the front desk!"
Yvonne added: "It feels brilliant to work at NUH, I have worked with some wonderful people, brilliant managers, consultants second to none, everyone has their own mannerisms but it is very much a team spirit, one unit and, overall, I have always had great experiences and opportunities in my working life which is why I am still here."
Janine Barrowcliffe, Yvonne's manager, said: "I am delighted and very proud that Yvonne has been recognised for her hard work and dedication to the NHS and NUH over many years.
"She is an exceptional colleague who undertakes her role with compassion, diplomacy and good humour and always goes the extra mile to help all those she encounters in her role. She is passionate about her job and has developed an outstanding reception team who provide an invaluable service to our patients, visitors and staff. Congratulations Yvonne on your richly deserved recognition."