Published on: 6th December 2024
Over 400 of our colleagues came together on Friday 29 November to celebrate our 2024 Pennine Care People Awards.
In its third year, with costs covered by sponsorship, our awards aim to celebrate and thank colleagues for their relentless hard work and outstanding achievements over the last 12 months.
The evening was jam packed with heartwarming stories of the many individuals and teams who go above and beyond to improve the lives of our patients, families, and carers.
International mental health ambassador Poppy Jaman OBE hosted the event. She delivered a heart-warming speech, before introducing the nine award categories. The winners were announced by the event’s silver sponsors, who also presented the award and certificate.
Guests were uplifted and entertained by the newly established Pennine Care Choir; funded by the Pennine Care Charity, and the Manchester Proud Chorus; a community choir representing the LGBTQI+ community.
Our winners
Oldham
The Oldham-based community mental health champion project won the brilliant partnership award. Oldham service manager Lynn Burton worked with the Oldham women’s chai project to train women from the borough’s south Asian community to become mental health champions.
The aim is to reduce health inequalities by making sure mental health support is accessible and culturally appropriate. By empowering and equipping the women with the right skills, they can help themselves and their community.
Bury:
Amy Borrows and Nicola Haworth, mental health practitioners from NHS Bury talking therapies, were crowned ray of sunshine winners. The pair have taken up the role of wellbeing champions, in addition to their many clinical responsibilities.
They were nominated by several colleagues who wanted to shine a light on their passion for making a positive difference. They put so much effort into making every team member and patient feel special, bring a smile to everyone’s face and have made a big impact.
Stockport:
Rose Dunn, manager of our Stockport access team, was crowned the 2024 rising star. Since becoming team manager in July 2023, Rose has had a profoundly positive impact on colleagues and patients.
Her nominator describes her as fair, compassionate, understanding, and willing to go the extra mile so everyone has the best experience. She effectively supported her team through a difficult period, helping them transform the service.
Tameside:
Whittaker day unit, based at Tameside Hospital, took home the community choice award. The team was nominated by several patients, carers, and partners for the work they do to support older adults with complex mental health needs, and young adults with dementia.
Described as compassionate and forward thinking, they aim to make sure people have the right information and support to live well in the community.
All boroughs:
Beth Byrne and Olivia Barratt, project officer and team leader for our resourcing team, won the great innovation award. Earlier this year, the pair reduced the use of agency staff from 44% to 20%; below the national target of 25%.
They supported 180 agency workers to transition to temporary (bank) staff and improved their learning and induction process. This is helping improve the quality and safety of care and achieved significant financial savings.
Learning disability programme manager Claire Lilley won the coveted colleague of the year award. Her nominator is grateful for her infectious enthusiasm, passion for excellence, innovative problem-solving skills, unwavering integrity, and commitment to making a difference.
She led key developments, including recruiting Greater Manchester’s first learning disability peer support workers and the development of the Radcliffe Place hospital avoidance service.
Transformation project manager Yasmin Khan took home the inspirational leader award. Her nominators wanted to highlight the “mind-blowing” impact she’s had in a short time.
She’s described as a fountain of knowledge, who keeps everything running like clockwork - from building relationships to managing data, finances, and governance. She’s confident, calm and in control. And she’s a great team player, using her expertise to support colleagues with kindness and patience.
The winner of the prestigious Team of the year award was the Pennine Care out of area placement team. Between February and July 2024 (period covered by the award submission), this small, innovative team achieved a 60% reduction in the number of patients in out of area beds and reduced the average length of stay from 44 to 24 days.
They go over and above to provide the best care and experience. And they’re working hard to eliminate out of area placements, ensuring people can stay closer to their home, loved ones and vital community support.
Quotes
Our chief executive Anthony Hassall, said: “It was wonderful to bring together so many of our colleagues to recognise and celebrate their remarkable and life changing work.
“We’re seeing a year-on-year increase in the number of award submissions – with a whopping 533 received this year. This isn’t surprising as there’s so much great work happening across the organisation. The examples shared on the night were just a snapshot.
“Huge congratulations to our nine winners and well done to our finalists and everyone who was nominated. We are so grateful and proud of our Pennine Care People.”
Our chair, Evelyn Asante-Mensah OBE, said: “This was our best event so far. The love and joy in the room was infectious and continues to radiate across our organisation.
“I’ve always been one of the NHS’s biggest cheerleaders. But recent personal experiences have brought home how vital our country’s most precious asset really is. Our colleagues are the beating heart of the NHS, so I’m so pleased we’re able to celebrate and thank them in such spectacular style.”
Event host Poppy Jaman OBE said: “It was such a privilege to be part of the 2024 Pennine Care People Awards.
“Despite 20 years of working in mental health, I never fail to feel inspired and moved by the care, compassion and dedication shown by NHS colleagues. They get up each morning determined to make a positive difference and to give people hope for a brighter future. The ceremony was a rollercoaster of emotions, that I’ll never forget.”
You can watch all the finalists videos on our Pennine Care People Awards YouTube playlist
All photos from the night are available on our Facebook page.