COLUMN: Taking time to recognise our team’s efforts

As chair at Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS), I had the pleasure of being an integral part of our staff and volunteer awards. It was a privilege to be part of the judging process, hear so many inspirational stories and to see many of these amazing people at the ceremony.

At LCHS we are proud of our staff and volunteers, whose dedication and commitment to delivering outstanding care makes a huge difference to our patients. We recognise and commend these achievements through our Celebrating Success Awards.

We provide community-based health care services across the county to help people live independently at home, including occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech and language services, community and district nursing, urgent treatment centres, school-age immunisations and children’s therapy services. The Trust also provides services at four community hospitals in Gainsborough, Louth, Skegness and Spalding.

Nominations for the awards come from colleagues, patients and their loved ones who appreciate the care they’ve received and want to say thank you.

Amongst the winners was Ashby Rehabilitation Unit, Speech and Language Therapy Team which won the Innovation Award.

This team attended a webinar on using flavoured foam to improve the experience of patients who are unable to eat and drink following brain injuries.

Patients can now have tastes of their favourite drinks whilst receiving swallow therapy in the hope of regaining their ability to swallow safely.

This has resulted in many positive experiences for patients, including someone who was nil by mouth after a severe brain injury. He was able to enjoy his favourite pina colada mocktail with his family to celebrate a milestone birthday! How wonderful is that?

I also had the pleasure of choosing a winner for the Chair’s award; it went to the Home Health Team. They are a small team dedicated to supporting just under 500 care home residents and care home staff across 15 care homes in South Lincoln.

The Home Health Team consistently delivered service improvements and high-quality responsive care. They pushed boundaries and supported each other to try new initiatives. For example, producing care home information folders and offering one-to-one support for new care home managers.

Therapists from the team developed group sessions to enrich the lives of people with dementia. Residents attend groups that use music, baking, crafts and reminiscing to improve cognition and communication.

So as you can see we are very proud of the compassionate care we deliver through our services at LCHS.

There were many other winners, please see all the citations on the LCHS website here.

If you’d like to learn more about LCHS, or are thinking about working for us please click here to visit our website and view our latest job vacancies, here on the LCHS website