Unsung heroes

The healthcare professionals we've been under the care of over the last few months have been by and large a credit to their profession under very difficult circumstances.

The number of times I've had to call the NHS 111 service (for non-UK readers, 111 is the NHS non-emergency number where we call 111 on our telephone and speak to a highly trained adviser, supported by healthcare professionals. They ask a series of questions to assess symptoms and immediately direct the caller to the best medical care available. they're their 24/7). You can access more information about NHS 111 here.

I've lost count of the number of times in the past 18 months I've had to call them on countless occasions, from 11pm - midnight through to 6am-7am. If it wasn't for their support in getting access to see an out of hours GP back in May when Amanda was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer on the brain, it may have taken even longer to have got her the treatment that she was so much in need of. Not once have their questioned my need for their service, despite the numerous call outs. They've offered reassurance and reference to the correct service requirements whenever I've needed them.

With regards to Amanda's most recent hospital admission ( see here and here for recaps), two particular individuals have given me cause to write in to our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) to compliment them on the level of care provided to Amanda during her stay under the most unfortunate of circumstances. 
I've copied the contents of the email I forwarded to PALS below:
  
Unfortunately, my wife was again admitted to hospital via the Emergency Assessment Bay in the Cancer Centre on Thursday 20th August 2015.

I cannot begin to explain how indebted we both are to the calming but essential advice provided in a  telephone call to my wife by Dawn Beetham from your Oncology Department. Without her persistence to encourage her to visit hospital, we’d have had a serious issue to deal with at home on Thursday evening instead of receiving expert and rapid response to a seizure that my wife experienced on Thursday evening and early hours of Friday morning. Dawn is a hero. She maintains she was ‘doing her job’ but she took time out of her day to arrange for my wife’s admission and visited her over the course of the 4 nights she remained in hospital for.

The standard of care that my wife received in her time in the Emergency Assessment Bay and on Ward 201 was excellent, but we really must highlight how brilliant one of your team was. Her name was Ann (really sorry, I couldn’t catch her surname from her name badge clearly, but I believe it was a double barrelled surname, maybe with the name “Lopez” as the second part). She was a golden ray of light in a dark time for us both and the compassion and standard of care she provided was breathtaking.


My wife is home for the time being. Despite the reoccurrence of her condition that lead to her re-admission to hospital, I felt it necessary to highlight the above. Please pass through via whatever scheme you have for recognising your heroes onto all concerned.

Earlier today, the hospital contacted me by email with the following.

We always try to promote and encourage the good work our individual staff do whenever possible. May I therefore ask if you would like to nominate Dawn Beetham and Ann Ivory-Lopez  for the ‘UHNM Hero’ award?


This patient-led award recognises the hard work and dedication of teams and individuals around the Trust.  Staff are able to have their work promoted and also receive a certificate.

I'm only too happy to lend my words to nominating Dawn & Ann for the UHNM Hero award and would also extend out gratitude to the professionals who have been courteous, compassionate and supportive in all our dealings with them during this hideous time of our lives.