Response to terrorist attacks recognised

Staff working across public services to help people affected by the terrorist attacks at Westminster and London Bridge, as well as the Grenfell Tower fire, were publicly recognised at NHS Lambeth CCG’s annual Lammy Awards on Wednesday 6 September.

Awards were presented to representatives of Guy’s and St Thomas’, London Fire Brigade, Metropolitan Police, London Ambulance Service, Lambeth Council, and South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, to take back to their organisations to say thank you to staff.

Dr Adrian McLachlan, Chair of Lambeth CCG, said: “The impact of caring for people in these circumstances will stay with staff long after the events have ended. The courage and commitment shown in caring for patients, and for each other, has been exceptional.

“Everyone at the awards ceremony paused to remember and send our deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Kirsty Boden, Senior Staff Nurse in Theatres Recovery at Guy’s Hospital, who lost her life during the London Bridge attack, and PC Keith Palmer who died in the Westminster attack.”

Joanna Taylor (Clinical Nurse Specialist in Upper Gastrointestional (GI) Cancer) won the Putting Patients First category of the Lammy Awards after receiving six separate nominations. She developed and implemented a ‘one stop’ clinic for cancer patients.

A colleague said: “Living and surviving with cancer is much easier when you have someone like Joanna every step of the way!”

A number of other individual members of staff and teams from Guy’s and St Thomas’ were shortlisted for various categories of the Lammy Awards:

• Joanna Brown (Children’s Continuing Care Nurse, Evelina London) and the HIV Specialist Community Nursing Team were both shortlisted for the Putting Patients First Award
• The @home Alternative Care Pathway, encouraging partnership working between Guy’s and St Thomas’ staff based in our @home team and the London Ambulance Service, and the Transplant Surgery Team, who set up the UK’s first robotic kidney transplant programme, were both shortlisted for the Innovation in Lambeth Award
• The Community Stroke Team and the Speech and Language Therapists in the Neuro Conditions Team were both shortlisted for the Working Together – Adult Services Award
• Staff working in the Paediatric Phlebotomy Team in Evelina London were shortlisted for the Working Together – Children’s Services Award
• Dr Alison Lashwood(Consultant Genetic Counsellor) was shortlisted for the Lifetime Achievement Award.