UHNM shortlisted for prestigious community awards
University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM) has been shortlisted for three awards at this year’s Your Heroes Awards.
Rebecca Ferneyhough, professional lead for quality/operations, Professor Josep Sulé-Suso, consultant in oncology and the Children’s High Dependency Unit at Staffordshire Children’s Hospital at Royal Stoke are all up for the ‘NHS Hero’ award.
The Your Heroes Awards, organised by the University of Staffordshire in partnership with local organisations and businesses celebrates the unsung heroes of Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire.
Rebecca has been shortlisted after saving the life of Graham Scott, an 82-year-old great-grandad from Newcastle-under-Lyme after he suffered a cardiac arrest while queuing in a fish and chip shop.
Rebecca, who was off duty at the time, performed CPR before Graham went on to make a full recovery and return to his role as a lollipop man at Hempstalls Primary School, a job he has done for the past 25 years.
Rebecca said: “It’s an honour to be shortlisted and I’m incredibly grateful, but if there’s one thing I’d like people to take from my story it’s to learn CPR. I happened to be in the right place at the right time for Graham and knowing what to do gave him that chance.”
Professor Sulé-Suso and his team have been shortlisted after developing a pioneering blood test which could change the way cancer is detected and monitored.
The research, developed with Keele University, Loughborough University and other UK partners has shown for the first time that a technique known as Fourier Transform Infrared microspectroscopy can detect even a single cancer cell in a patient’s blood. The team successfully tested the
method using a blood sample from a 77-year-old lung cancer patient at UHNM.
Professor Sulé-Suso said: “To be shortlisted for the Your Heroes Awards is recognition of the work carried out for several years to improve the diagnosis of cancer. It also gives me further strength to continue this fight, which would not have been possible without the support of patients, their relatives and friends, UHNM Charity and the Wade Charitable Foundation.”
Staff from the Children’s High Dependency Unit at Staffordshire Children’s Hospital at Royal Stoke have also been shortlisted after being nominated by the family of two children with complex medical needs.
The medical and nursing team from Children’s HDU, alongside staff from UHNM’s Respiratory team have supported the family and their two foster children over the past eight years. The family praised staff for their expert care, reassurance and kindness during extended stays in hospital.
Teresa Wilson, matron for childrens and professional nurse advocate, said: “I have been nursing for 38 years and the biggest honour is to care for someone’s child, and then to be nominated by them is truly amazing.”
The winners will be announced at a ceremony on Thursday 26 November.