Skip to main content

This site is best viewed with a modern browser. You appear to be using an old version of Internet Explorer.

Horton General Hospital staff recognised for outstanding achievements

07/12/2018
This article is more than five years old.

Staff from Oxford University Hospitals donned their finery on 5 December 2018 at a special awards ceremony honouring their achievements over the last year.

The Staff Recognition Awards ceremony at Oxford Town Hall was attended by 265 staff, volunteers, and fundraisers. Winners and finalists were selected from each of the award categories, designed to celebrate the excellent contribution that they had made to patient care and working life at the Trust throughout 2018.

The ceremony - which was generously supported by Oxford Hospitals Charity - was hosted by BBC Oxford's Geraldine Peers. Winners and finalists were picked from over 1,000 nominations by a panel of staff and patients.

The Horton's Hip Fracture Team won the Clinical Team of the Year award. Named as the best in the country for the treatment of patients with hip fractures, the Horton General Hospital has been in the top five performing hospitals for this service for several years.

Dr Angela Kannan, Clinical Lead for the Horton Trauma team, said: "I'm so pleased the team have won this award. Over the past few years, they've improved the treatment of patients with hip fractures beyond all recognition.

"This award reflects the expertise and commitment of all our team who are consistently providing excellent treatment from a patient's arrival in our Emergency Department, all the way through to surgery and ward care." 

There was a moving tribute to Dayle Kinch as her family were presented with the Chairman's Award.

Dayle worked for the Trust for nearly 40 years, most of which based at the Horton General Hospital as an Infection Control Nurse.

Four years ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Dayle rallied her family, friends and the local community in an ambitious fundraising campaign to help other local patients going through cancer - particularly those looked after at the Horton's Brodey Centre.

Dayle and her family raised an astonishing £20,000, which bought two cooling caps for the unit. These are used during chemotherapy to minimise hair loss, a side-effect that can deeply affect cancer patients.

Dayle died in July this year, and made it clear to her family and friends that they continue their quest to fundraise in her memory.

Christine Kinch, Dayle's sister-in-law, said: "It was a true honour to receive this award for Dayle. During the last four years, she lived graciously and courageously with cancer and it was her wish that, following on from the successful fundraising for the Brodey Centre, her loved ones keep raising money to fund extra training for the Infection Control Team.

"Dayle knew that teams like Infection Control are quite behind the scenes, and don't tend to get many donations from the public. But she also knew how central they actually are to hospitals, and how dedicated the teams are." 

The Trust's Estates department, including Estates staff from the Horton, scooped the Patients' Choice award for their dedication and daily efforts to keep our hospital buildings running smoothly.

Mark Neal, Interim Director of Estates, said: "I'm absolutely thrilled the team have won this award. They're incredibly special - they're behind the scenes every day of the year, at weekends, and overnight. They're the people who keep the lights on, keep the heating going, and work away in the background to keep everything ticking along.

"During last year's snowy weather, the Estates team volunteered to get to work at 4.00am to shovel snow and ice and make sure the hospitals were accessible for everybody."

The evening closed with Chief Executive Dr Bruno Holthof thanking winners and nominators for their hard work, support and dedication - and a reminder that hardworking staff were looking after patients as the ceremony went on.

For a full list of winners and photographs of the ceremony, please visit the awards web page.