Health Heroes Honoured in the Capital
Healthcare workers, support staff and volunteers working across Lothian have been honoured for their hard work, dedication and commitment.
The NHS Lothian Awards, sponsored by NHS Lothian Charity, are nominated by staff or the public across a range of categories.
Scooping this year’s Staff Member of the Year award is Dionne Yorkston, Personal Assistant at Leith Community Treatment Centre. She was nominated by many of her colleagues for going above and beyond in her part time role to the facilities team.
Dionne said: “When I found out I was shortlisted, it took me a few hours to get my head around it. I thought it was a team effort, but my colleagues told me, no, they all did it individually. I feel a winner, because it’s not management that nominated me, it’s my colleagues. This will never happen again, for me, this is just the icing on the cake. It’s wonderful.”
Picking up the Voluntary Service Award is Zakariya Vansoh (18) for the hundreds of hours he’s clocked up connecting with patients, helping to entertain, comfort and reassure them, or just lend a friendly ear. Celebrating with his Gran at the ceremony Zak said:
“I’m speechless, I had my granny record it, but I didn’t think I was going to win . The fact that I was even nominated for the award is already more than I could ever have imagined. Events like this one today are so important to let people feel really appreciated. It’s simple but so valuable.”
Professor John Connaghan CBE, Chair of NHS Lothian Board explained: “It’s been a very special year as we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the NHS. We’re incredibly proud of our staff achievements over the decades and their commitment to caring for others. These awards ensure we recognise those who’re not just upholding the NHS values but also helping us evolve and transform for the future.”
The Team of the Year award was presented to the Same Day Emergency Care team (SDEC) for the work they do helping patients get the right care in the right place. The team are helping reduce waiting times and pressure on the front doors by assessing, diagnosing, treating and discharging patients with specific conditions without admission to a ward.
Michael Shek, Lead Advance Nurse Practitioner for SDEC said: “We’ve put in so much work to make SDEC a successful service and we continue to expand. It’s not just the SDEC team but everyone wider. None of this would have been possible without everyone in NHS Lothian’s help. This award is recognition of that hard work and it will help drive the team forward to provide even better care.”
Competition for the Health Hero award voted for by the public was tough with three outstanding candidates. The winner was Dr Eleanor Watson, Gastroenterologist Consultant at the Western General Hospital who was nominated by two patients.
Dr Eleanor Watson said: “The fact that it’s the public that nominate in this category makes it extra special. All the colleagues I work with work really hard, do an amazing job and make a difference to patients, so I feel like we all deserve this award.”
Calum Campbell, Chief Executive, NHS Lothian, added: “Many of our staff feel like they’re just doing their job and don’t want recognition, which is why these awards are so important. I want to thank all our finalists for their hard work, resilience and professionalism and extend a warm congratulations to them all for their achievements.”
The NHS Lothian awards are sponsored by NHS Lothian Charity, Ernst & Young, Intersystems, RMF Health (a partnership between Robertson and FES Group), Royal College of Nursing Scotland, Unison, the Edinburgh Evening News and NHS Staff Benefits.
For the full list of all of NHS Lothian’s award winners please visit the Celebrating Success Winners page.
