DAISY honourees celebrated

L-R- Mark Barnes, Dr Sonia Swart, Sheran Oke, Bonnie Barnes

Northampton General Hospital's DAISY award honourees have celebrated their achievements and shared their stories at an afternoon tea event.

Now in its second year at the hospital, the Daisy Award is an opportunity for patients and their families to say thank you by sharing their story, of how a nurse or midwife made a difference that they will never forget. To date, 24 honourees have been recognised in the hospital for their achievements to go above and beyond to provide memorable patient care.

At the event honourees from the last two years were invited to celebrate their achievements and learn about others in the hospital who had received awards. As well as this, for the second time, the American creators of the DAISY foundation, Bonnie and Mark Barnes, travelled to the UK for the afternoon celebration.

The family founded the awards in 1999 in honour of their son Patrick, following his death from complications due to the auto-immune disease ITP. The awards were formed based on patients, relatives and colleagues wanting to thank nurses and midwives publically for going above and beyond their job roles.

Hollie Watts, Macmillan Cancer Recovery Package Facilitator for Northamptonshire and DAISY honouree, descried what the event meant to her: “It is really lovely to attend the DAISY afternoon tea and be recognised by patients for the ongoing support and care we deliver at Northampton General Hospital.

“To many, our daily nursing tasks are part of the natural running of the hospital and you often get caught up in to thinking ‘I’m just doing my job’. Nursing however, is a life vocation and we all often go above and beyond to include the ‘little things’ that hugely matter to patients and their families.

“Receiving feedback from patients, whether that’s a verbal thank you, a card or DAISY nomination, reminds us of what is really important to patients and why we come into work every day.”

You can nominate an extraordinary nurse or midwife by downloading a nomination form and sending it back to:

• Email: Daisy Award Co-Ordinator
• Post: DAISY Award Co-Ordinator, Patient, Nursing & Midwifery Services, Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust, Cliftonville, Northampton NN1 5BD

Find out more about how we recognise our staff including our Everyday Hero awards, for all staff who are not nursing or midwifery colleagues, and our annual Best Possible Care awards for all staff and volunteers.
Details of these awards are available here: https://www.northamptongeneral.nhs.uk/Patients-and-Visitors/Staff-recognition/Staff-recognition.aspx