Doctors thanked for their contribution during pandemic

Pictured: Dr Raja Muthusami accepts the Chief Executive's Award from Tracy Bullock on behalf of the respiratory specialist registrar team

A team of respiratory specialist registrars (SpR) have been recognised for their dedication during the Covid-19 pandemic. The group worked flexibly to support the hospital’s acute medical team and even devised their own rota. They also maintained and supported the respiratory wards, which took many of the hospital’s Covid-19 patients during the first wave of the pandemic.

The group have been given the Chief Executive’s Award in recognition of their commitment.

Tracy Bullock, Chief Executive, said: “This team went above and beyond to ensure we were able to look after our patients when they needed it most. Sadly for us, this particular group of SpRs will leave UHNM at the end of the month to move on to their next phase of training, so it’s wonderful to be able to recognise their contribution now. I want to thank them for their incredible work during the first wave of the pandemic and to say thank you in advance for their continued hard work and commitment to the NHS as we face the second surge and winter. We know it is going to be extremely challenging, but to know that there is such talent and dedication out there is very reassuring.”

The team includes Viktoria Oakden, Raja Muthusami, Ahsan Zahid, Andrew McDougall, Olivia Bosher, Saleem Chaudhri, Lok Yin Cheng, Kimberley Nettleton, Abigail Mackintosh, as well as Asim Ahmed and Sana Iftikhar.

Dr Raja Muthusami, respiratory specialist registrar, said: “Speaking on behalf of the team, we are all really pleased to receive the Chief Executive’s award. We would like to thank our consultants for their support and help, which enabled us to function well as a team and contribute to the provision of respiratory care and acute medical services. We have really appreciated being able to have a say in organisational meetings and would like to thank the trust for giving us the opportunity to voice our ideas and concerns. We would also like to thank all our nursing and allied healthcare colleagues, the team in the pleural clinic and our respiratory secretaries for their hard work and commitment, without which we could not have achieved what we have. It has been an especially challenging time due to the pandemic, but we have had excellent examples in leadership and we know we will learn from this and take the experience we have gained forward.”