The voting is now open for our People’s Choice Award, with the winner being announced during a special awards week, coming soon!
This award recognises individuals or teams who have made a significant impact to a person's (or people's) life.
Take a look at our final three nominees below and choose your winner. You have until midnight on 1 December.
Dawn Claeys and Lee Holmes
Dawn and Lee don’t know each other, but by pure coincidence they both happened to be in the right place at the right time to provide much needed medical assistance earlier this year.
Learning disability nurse Dawn Claeys from our Discharge and Co-Ordination Team had been on a clinical visit and was on the motorway driving to her next appointment. Meanwhile Lee Holmes from our Clinical Education Team was on the same stretch of road making his way back from one of our sites.
Dawn noticed a casualty on the hard shoulder and pulled over through three lanes of live traffic. Dawn found the casualty was breathing but had significant injuries.
Within moments, Trust colleague Lee, who is our Mandatory Training Manager had also spotted the casualty and pulled onto the westbound hard shoulder.
Luckily, in his spare time, Lee is a volunteer community first responder and is accustomed to being first on the scene of an emergency. As a result, he had been travelling with oxygen and an automated external defibrillator (AED).
Both colleagues took the lead in administering the initial first aid at the scene, prior to emergency service arrival.
They both worked with an advanced paramedic at the scene and gave a full handover of the patient’s condition. Dawn and Lee stayed, providing first aid until the casualty could be conveyed to hospital, with an air ambulance attending.
Dawn showed bravery, compassion and resilience by going above and beyond providing medical support in what was both a difficult and distressing situation, providing timely first aid and comfort to the casualty. She then continued her journey, attending her previously planned meetings and clinical appointments for the rest of the day. Lee, who’s volunteered as a North West Ambulance Service first responder for 10 years, returned to his base at Minerva Health Centre at Deepdale.
Louise Hartigan
Nurse Louise Hartigan really went beyond the call of duty to save a service user’s life.
The service user came to her team with some complex needs, struggling with his mental health and dependent on alcohol to function. Lots of services had turned away from him but Louise didn’t.
When Louise found him in intensive care from alcohol abuse, she advocated for him to get wraparound support for dual diagnosis and the help he needed, but it didn’t stop there.
Things took a turn when he ran out of money. His dependence on alcohol led him to regrettably threatening shop workers and making demands for money, for which he was given a custodial sentence.
Every week Louise visited him in prison completing therapeutic work to help him get clean and recover. The visits made him feel seen, heard, cared for and supported, helping him to stop drinking.
In prison he struggled with bullying and suicidal thoughts as he was so remorseful for what he had done. After finding out he was losing his flat, he was despairing.
With his permission, Louise supported in getting his valuables dropped off at his relative’s house.
Louise and other members of her team, Social Worker Jessica Kelly, and Healthcare Support Workers Marla Weerakone and Ismail Mulla then helped to tidy, clean and clear his cluttered flat.
A neighbour said how nice it was to see NHS staff do "what's needed" to help their patients keep well. Upon his release from prison, Louise supported him to get a property.
Today, he lives an alcohol-free life, has contact with his children and having been treated by Louise in prison and diagnosed with autism, he’s getting the right support.
Her compassion and drive to advocate for a vulnerable dad has enabled him to quit alcohol, see his children and live a happy, functioning life with aspirations and the right support for his neurodiversity.
Occupational Therapist Lis Hurst and Psychologist Joanne Holding
Lis Hurst and Joanne Holding are credited with saving the life of their now Trust colleague, Occupational Therapist Daniella Taylor.
Daniella qualified with a first class degree last year and treats older adults in the community in East Lancashire.
Daniella says: “Lis was my key worker and together with Joanne, their sustained compassion, skill, and teamwork transformed my life when I was suicidal and overwhelmed by complex trauma.
“I simply wouldn’t be here without them, let alone working in my dream career. When I first met Lis and Joanne, I felt hopeless and unsafe in my own mind. As my key worker, Lis immediately advocated for the right treatments and practical support. She also taught me coping skills, listened without judgment, and was resourceful and kind. Lis consistently sought to understand the impact of trauma, and she didn't see me as a typical emotionally unstable personality disorder patient (EUPD), but instead someone with complex trauma who had learned unhelpful coping skills to survive.
Their care was so person centred and highlights that people with complex trauma can recover with time and quality care.”
After being gravely unwell with COVID, Daniella was put in a coma. She said:
“Dr Joanne Holding never gave up on me. She took the time required for proper trauma recovery, remaining patient when I struggled to process painful memories from when I was younger. Even when I became critically unwell with COVID, she continued my therapy and didn’t give up on me. You can’t put a timeline on trauma recovery, and they transformed my life, ensuring my care was consistent and holistic.
“Because of their support, I found reasons to live and rebuilt my life. They saw potential in me even when I didn’t see it in myself. Because of their belief in me, I qualified with first class honours as an occupational therapist.
“It’s hard to put into words the transformative impact they’ve had on my life, but their extraordinary compassion, clinical skill and teamwork gave me the chance to heal and to thrive, and to start my dream career to help other people. Without them, I simply wouldn’t be here, they saved my life, so I can now help others as an occupational therapist.”
