"Winning this award really helped start the healing process for our team."
As part of the NEW Team NUH Awards programme, the Advanced Respiratory Care Unit (ARCU) has won a Team NUH Public nominated Category award. The team were nominated by Becky Smith, the Granddaughter of the late Lesley Pickering, who sadly passed away aged 72 from Covid-19 Pneumonia. Lesley spent her final few days in the care of ARCU, who are based at City Hospital, on Ward Nightingale 2.
Becky, 27 from Stoke Bardolph, said:
“I submitted this award because I felt the team deserved recognition for all of the little things that they do. Working with critically ill patients on a daily basis must be both physically and mentally exhausting, but they made sure my Nannar and I were treated with respect, dignity and care; no matter what time of day it was. Leading up to my Nannar's passing, I was completely lost and surviving on little to no sleep, but the Nurses and Doctors went out of their way to make sure we were comfortable, informed and well looked after. Times like this stay with you forever and the memories in those final hours are incredibly important to the family left behind. The staff clearly recognise this, and ensured we had the quality time to spend together. If it wasn't for their kindness, the ending to my Nannar's story could've been completely different.”
The Trust’s Chief Executive, Tracy Taylor, presented the award to the unit as a surprise, with Becky and family joining virtually via MS Teams. Speaking of seeing the team find out that they had won, Becky said: “I was really surprised because I thought there must be hundreds of nominations but I was so happy that we were able to thank them in this way and hopefully it shows our appreciation. It was really emotional seeing the team again and it brought back lots of memories, but seeing their reactions made it all worthwhile as they weren't expecting it.”
Speaking about receiving the award, Doctor Milind Sovani, Consultant in Respiratory Medicine said:
“Over the last year or so, ARCU have tried their best to help Covid-19 patients survive the illness. Where that was not possible, we tried to relieve the suffering for patients and families. This has been a difficult journey for our patients, families, and staff.
Becky’s kind words and the award really helped start the healing process for our staff. This appreciation has provided us with new vigour to continue to fight this pandemic and do our best for our patients and families.
We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Becky, who took time out from her personal suffering and provided such positive feedback.”
Lucy Briggs, ARCU Ward Manager, said:
“It was an honour to be nominated by a family member of one of our patients. The team are all really touched. We feel really proud it is a team award, and, as such, recognises everyone on the ward: nurses, doctors, admin, health care assistants, support staff and more. It has been a really demanding year, getting this award is a real boost for the team.”
Becky encourages other members of the public to submit a nomination if they or a loved one have received great care at Nottingham University Hospitals.
She says: “To other members of the public considering submitting an award, I would urge them all to do it. It only takes a couple of minutes and I know that when you're going through tough times, it's usually the last thing on your mind, but if the NHS staff have made a difference to your journey, it is so worth doing to brighten their day and remind them that we are grateful for what they do.”
We wish to thank Becky and her family, and all of the members of the public who have submitted nominations so far. We continue to invite patients and their loved ones to submit nominations via our website, to celebrate and recognise those that consistently demonstrated high-quality clinical care, compassion and kindness in the care they provided/provide.