Our Staff MERIT Awards
Our first Staff MERIT Awards to recognise the achievements and celebrate the inspirational and innovative work of staff in the Health & Social Care Moray partnership, took place on Tuesday 26th March 2019 at the Alexander Graham Bell Conference Centre in Elgin.
Huge congratulations to all nominees and to the overall winners. The judging panel had a very difficult task such was the quality of the entries. Information on all the nominees is included in the awards brochure.
The winners were:
Mentor of the Year - Wendy Edwards, Practice Manager, Ardach Health Centre and Linkwood Medical Practice
Wendy – who also chairs the Moray Practice Managers’ Group – has been instrumental in supporting the development of mental health services in Primary Care.
She has engaged her practice manager colleagues to understand the pathways of care people require when they access their GP surgery. With her practice colleagues she developed a mental health ‘hub’ in her practice and then showed her peers how this worked and what needed to be done to achieve this.
Wendy’s nomination reads: “Wendy has led by example, has developed her practice manager colleagues and has encouraged them to be involved and lead. She has sought training for all practice admin and practice manager staff across Moray on mental health first aid and has been instrumental in the design, delivery and roll out of this transformational change – a true mentor indeed.”
Empowerment Champions - Margaret Cowie, Volunteer Development Officer, and Edweena Hayes, Volunteer Support Officer
The work of Margaret and Edweena embodies a key theme of integration – people in communities supporting each other to understand their strengths and weakness so they can take positive action together to live more active and fulfilled lives.
Through the volunteers they recruit, match and support, they have empowered over 600 individuals in Moray to take greater control of their lives, reconnect with their community and reduce social isolation.
Margaret and Edweena’s nomination reads: “They help people recognise they have knowledge, skills and experience to draw on so they grow as individuals. They continually demonstrate the value and trust they have in their volunteers. They go above and beyond to create a shares sense of purpose that everyone can make a difference in someone’s life.”
Rising Star - Dawn Duncan, Lead Occupational Therapist
Dawn has been instrumental in introducing tests of change that have demonstrated enhancements in outcomes for service users/patients by improving the service available at the Emergency Department.
Through identifying the need for change, effective leadership of her team, seeking and submitting business cases for funding to support a test of change and developing close working relationships with colleagues, this project has transformed the service provided and prevented unnecessary admissions.
Dawn’s nomination reads: “Dawn has demonstrated tenacity and belief in her focus to implement change that has made a significant difference for the people using these services. She deserves recognition for her sustained efforts.”
Innovation Champion - Fiona McPherson, Public Involvement Officer
One of the key tenants of the learning disability transformational change programme has been about engaging with people with learning disabilities in a meaningful way. Fiona worked alongside change partners Alder Advice to find out about using Open Space and Moray now finds itself at the leading edge of using it in the area of learning disabilities.
Open Space Technology (OST) is a method for organising and running a meeting or conference where participants focus on a specific important task or purpose. It is a participant-driven process whose agenda is created by people attending.
Fiona’s nomination reads: “Over the last year Fiona has led this for people with learning disabilities to understand how they can be better involved in their communities and how communities can better involve people with learning disabilities. From the participants’ perspective, it was very clear that Fiona created a positive and safe space for people to really explore their strengths and attributes and how these can be shared.”
Team Moray - Moray integrated drug and alcohol service
The Moray Integrated Drug and Alcohol Service (MIDAS), under the exceptional leadership of Lynsey Murray, have been hailed as a role model demonstrating the absolute essence of what an integrated team is all about. They work in an extremely effective multidisciplinary way between nursing, social work, psychiatry and admin support, ensuring that people who require input from the specialist service are well supported through their recovery journey.
Working alongside Arrows as the single point of access service for alcohol and drug support, they have developed high quality, effective relationships to make best use of everyone’s skills across the whole system.
The service’s nomination reads: “A ‘can do’ attitude and a high level of personal and professional resilience means that they manage to support people in their own communities in a way that is impressive and is the envy of our colleagues in the City and Shire. This means that they can make the most of people’s ‘recovery capital’ to increase the likelihood of them staying in recovery. As one of our earliest truly integrated teams, we have much to learn from them as a whole system.”
Chair's Award - Karen Macdonald, Social Care Assistant, Care at Home Service
As a “home carer” Karen regularly demonstrates her creative thinking and dedication through the personal touches which make a world of difference to individual service users and their families.
She is instrumental in not only supporting people to live as independently as possible but in improving their quality of life by taking account of the things that matter to them and treating them with compassion and understanding.
Karen’s nomination reads: “It was the anniversary of a husband and wife we visit who had been married 40 years. The gentleman is housebound and seemed sad on this day. She went out of her way to go to a shop and buy a big bunch of flowers and a card for him to give to his wife. His face lifted and eyes shone.”
Huge congratulations to all nominees and to the overall winners. The judging panel had a very difficult task such was the quality of the entries. Information on all the nominees is included in the awards brochure.
The winners were:
Mentor of the Year - Wendy Edwards, Practice Manager, Ardach Health Centre and Linkwood Medical Practice
Wendy – who also chairs the Moray Practice Managers’ Group – has been instrumental in supporting the development of mental health services in Primary Care.
She has engaged her practice manager colleagues to understand the pathways of care people require when they access their GP surgery. With her practice colleagues she developed a mental health ‘hub’ in her practice and then showed her peers how this worked and what needed to be done to achieve this.
Wendy’s nomination reads: “Wendy has led by example, has developed her practice manager colleagues and has encouraged them to be involved and lead. She has sought training for all practice admin and practice manager staff across Moray on mental health first aid and has been instrumental in the design, delivery and roll out of this transformational change – a true mentor indeed.”
Empowerment Champions - Margaret Cowie, Volunteer Development Officer, and Edweena Hayes, Volunteer Support Officer
The work of Margaret and Edweena embodies a key theme of integration – people in communities supporting each other to understand their strengths and weakness so they can take positive action together to live more active and fulfilled lives.
Through the volunteers they recruit, match and support, they have empowered over 600 individuals in Moray to take greater control of their lives, reconnect with their community and reduce social isolation.
Margaret and Edweena’s nomination reads: “They help people recognise they have knowledge, skills and experience to draw on so they grow as individuals. They continually demonstrate the value and trust they have in their volunteers. They go above and beyond to create a shares sense of purpose that everyone can make a difference in someone’s life.”
Rising Star - Dawn Duncan, Lead Occupational Therapist
Dawn has been instrumental in introducing tests of change that have demonstrated enhancements in outcomes for service users/patients by improving the service available at the Emergency Department.
Through identifying the need for change, effective leadership of her team, seeking and submitting business cases for funding to support a test of change and developing close working relationships with colleagues, this project has transformed the service provided and prevented unnecessary admissions.
Dawn’s nomination reads: “Dawn has demonstrated tenacity and belief in her focus to implement change that has made a significant difference for the people using these services. She deserves recognition for her sustained efforts.”
Innovation Champion - Fiona McPherson, Public Involvement Officer
One of the key tenants of the learning disability transformational change programme has been about engaging with people with learning disabilities in a meaningful way. Fiona worked alongside change partners Alder Advice to find out about using Open Space and Moray now finds itself at the leading edge of using it in the area of learning disabilities.
Open Space Technology (OST) is a method for organising and running a meeting or conference where participants focus on a specific important task or purpose. It is a participant-driven process whose agenda is created by people attending.
Fiona’s nomination reads: “Over the last year Fiona has led this for people with learning disabilities to understand how they can be better involved in their communities and how communities can better involve people with learning disabilities. From the participants’ perspective, it was very clear that Fiona created a positive and safe space for people to really explore their strengths and attributes and how these can be shared.”
Team Moray - Moray integrated drug and alcohol service
The Moray Integrated Drug and Alcohol Service (MIDAS), under the exceptional leadership of Lynsey Murray, have been hailed as a role model demonstrating the absolute essence of what an integrated team is all about. They work in an extremely effective multidisciplinary way between nursing, social work, psychiatry and admin support, ensuring that people who require input from the specialist service are well supported through their recovery journey.
Working alongside Arrows as the single point of access service for alcohol and drug support, they have developed high quality, effective relationships to make best use of everyone’s skills across the whole system.
The service’s nomination reads: “A ‘can do’ attitude and a high level of personal and professional resilience means that they manage to support people in their own communities in a way that is impressive and is the envy of our colleagues in the City and Shire. This means that they can make the most of people’s ‘recovery capital’ to increase the likelihood of them staying in recovery. As one of our earliest truly integrated teams, we have much to learn from them as a whole system.”
Chair's Award - Karen Macdonald, Social Care Assistant, Care at Home Service
As a “home carer” Karen regularly demonstrates her creative thinking and dedication through the personal touches which make a world of difference to individual service users and their families.
She is instrumental in not only supporting people to live as independently as possible but in improving their quality of life by taking account of the things that matter to them and treating them with compassion and understanding.
Karen’s nomination reads: “It was the anniversary of a husband and wife we visit who had been married 40 years. The gentleman is housebound and seemed sad on this day. She went out of her way to go to a shop and buy a big bunch of flowers and a card for him to give to his wife. His face lifted and eyes shone.”
| Staff MERIT Awards 2019 brochure |
