20 September 2012
Islanders who have given years of loyal service to Health and Social Services (HSS) will be honoured at a special achievements awards ceremony for staff on Friday night (21 September). They are being recognised for the day-to-day contribution they make at HSS in order to keep the largest States department running.
Other colleagues will be recognised for a variety of achievements, including academic excellence and commitment to change through the organisation’s service improvement programme.
The evening, which will be attended by the Lieutenant-Governor, His Excellency General Sir John McColl, and the Chief Minister, Ian Gorst, will also feature an award from the Minister for Health and Social Services, Deputy Anne Pryke, for several “unsung heroes”. These people include those nominated from HSS and Family Nursing and Home Care, as well as the overall winner of the organisation’s Quality Improvement Awards.
Julie Mesny, head of education, learning and development at HSS said "This is a special evening of celebration at which a number of achievements are recognised. We know what an incredible job all our staff perform every day, and the evening is a way of saying thank you to as many people as possible. There is so much work which goes on in the department. Whilst a larger proportion of health and social services is made up of doctors, nurses and social workers, the range of roles is really diverse. There are so many specialist roles across the service. Colleagues who run our laundry, fix our buildings, cook food for patients, and who are part of our governance teams and administration functions all make a valuable contribution, and we want to say thank you to them."
Speaking about the awards, CEO of HSS, Julie Garbutt said "Earlier this week, I attended the presentations made by the 9 shortlisted projects in our Quality Improvement Awards. I was both impressed and humbled by the sheer diversity of the projects presented by our staff and the absolute determination and focus displayed by staff across the department in their pursuit of improvements to patient safety, customer care and value for money. Tonight is another opportunity to recognise the commitment, professionalism and determination to make a difference for all our patients and clients and thank everyone for all they do."
Deputy Anne Pryke, Minister for Health and Social Services, added "I am very pleased to be able to personally thank the staff who have been nominated as unsung heroes within Health and Social Services. I am thoroughly looking forward to the event and celebrating all the things our staff have achieved."
Sponsorship for the event is being provided by main sponsor KPMG and Capita, with programme design by Uba Studio.