Three NHS workers are finalists in Pride of Cumbria Awards
THREE NHS staff have been nominated for the Pride of Cumbria Awards.
Sylvie Booth, Valerie Coltart, and Laura Street are finalists in the NHS Worker of the Year category in the awards organised by Newsquest Cumbria.
Sylvie is an orthoptist, Laura works as lead for Cancer Services Improvement, and Valerie is a paediatric dietician at the Cumberland Infirmary.
Sylvie was nominated by her colleague, Naomi Corbin.
Naomi said: "Sylvie goes above and beyond under very challenging working conditions. Her work in low vision and stroke is vital to individuals in maintaining their independence, rehabilitation, and emotional well-being.
'She is a key team player, working with our RNIB ECLO, ophthalmologists, local sight support charities, and in collaboration with other allied health professionals.
"Sylvie juggles motherhood with long working days, clinical teaching, and the needs of her wider family.
'The gift of sight through the services Sylvie provides gives those with sight impairment or changes in sight following events like stroke, life-changing experiences in terms of individual safety, sense of self-worth, ability to access rehab, returning to work, and living a quality and meaningful life. Sylvie very much deserves to be recognised for this.'
Valerie was nominated by a patient's mum.
She said: 'I am very humbled by this unexpected nomination as I do not feel worthy of any special recognition outside of my own lovely team.'
Laura was nominated for her passion and dedication to improving cancer services for the local population.
The citation said: 'Laura is unwavering dedicated to ensuring that patients receive the most timely and supportive care possible, and she is an asset to both the organisation and the communities that we serve.'
The awards will take place on Wednesday, June 18, at the Greenhill Hotel, Wigton, with finalists invited to a night of celebration.
Further details about North Cumbria Integrated Care (NCIC) and the work that they do can be found on social media and their website.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
NHS Confederation and Beamtree launch data analytics platform for NHS trusts
The UK's National Health Service (NHS) Confederation has partnered with health technology company Beamtree to introduce The Evolve Collaborative, which aims to enhance the use of operational data at NHS trusts in England. The initiative is focused on offering acute care services, enhancing patient outcomes and increasing efficiency. It combines Beamtree's analytics platform with the NHS Confederation's expertise in convening and improvement, with the aim to benchmark performance, understand variations and apply data-driven enhancements to processes. NHS Confederation chief executive Matthew Taylor said: 'The Evolve Collaborative seeks to empower clinicians, boards and operations leaders with the data they need. 'The collaborative will be a driven by our members and will encourage them to be curious about who else is doing things differently, and to ask 'why'. 'By combining predictive analytics with peer learning, we're giving NHS leaders the tools and support they need to drive real, measurable improvement." The Evolve Collaborative's analytics platform uses AI and machine learning to predict future trends. This will allow NHS trusts to identify challenges and assess the potential impact of different interventions. The platform is supported by tailored dashboards and tools designed for various roles within the NHS. A key component of the partnership is the formation of peer-to-peer learning communities, which are facilitated by experts in improvement. These aim to provide a secure environment for members to exchange best practices and jointly develop solutions to common challenges. Evolve Collaborative membership is currently available to NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts providing acute services in England. Beamtree chief executive Marek Stepniak said: 'Our experience with Health Roundtable in Australia and New Zealand has delivered measurable improvements in healthcare delivery. 'These insights have already helped providers on the other side of the world achieve tangible outcomes and we look forward to bringing this proven model of learning and collaboration to the UK." "NHS Confederation and Beamtree launch data analytics platform for NHS trusts" was originally created and published by Hospital Management, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
The NHS truths the Left don't want you to hear
Until very recently, Health Secretary Wes Streeting tried to market himself as a radical health reformer, who is not afraid to poke sacred cows. While his reform-minded rhetoric always remained at a highly-abstract and general level, Streeting deserved some credit for it, because he did not have to do this. He had the courage to say things which he knew would rub some people up the wrong way, not least the Corbynite wing of his own party. Sadly, that brief period of NHS candour is now officially over. Streeting, the self-styled reformer, is no more. He and his colleagues have fully retreated into their comfort zone. During the recent local election campaign, Labour distributed a leaflet that showed a mock medical bill, and a doctor holding up a credit card reader. The message was clear: vote for us, because this is what the other lot want to do to you. On Twitter/X, Labour are now frequently posting dire warnings about the alleged evils of insurance-based healthcare systems. This is exactly that old-school NHS cultism which Streeting used to disavow until five minutes ago. It may work for him. The NHS may be falling apart, but the cult around is still going strong. In the eyes of its keenest defenders, the NHS can do no wrong. They have quietly dropped the old cliché about the NHS being 'the envy of the word', and replaced it with a slightly more subtle version, which goes something like this: Once upon a time, the NHS used to be the best healthcare system in the world. But then, from 2010 on, it was systematically defunded. It was deliberately run into the ground, so that it can be privatised more easily. A privatised system would mean luxury healthcare for the rich, and Wild West medicine for the poor. None of these claims are true. Let's have a look at each of them in turn. The NHS was never the best healthcare system in the world. The idea that it ever was can be traced back to a ranking compiled by the Commonwealth Fund, an American healthcare think tank, which relies on a very unusual methodology, in which medical outcomes only account for a fifth of the total score. This matters, because on medical outcomes, the NHS has always been one of the worst-performing healthcare systems in the developed world – as even the Commonwealth Fund study shows. There is no turning point after which the NHS's performance suddenly deteriorated. It was just never good in the first place. At the end of the 2010s, age-adjusted real NHS spending per capita was only marginally higher than it had been in the beginning of the decade. Put differently, the NHS budget only just about kept pace with population growth, population ageing, and inflation. This clearly constituted a slowdown in spending increases compared to the previous decade. But it does not constitute a 'defunding'. In any case: that period of relative spending restraint is already over again. The NHS budget was given a massive boost during the pandemic, which has only been partially reversed. Public healthcare spending in the UK stands at just under 9% of GDP: one of the highest levels in the world. Conspiracy theories about secret plans to privatise the NHS have been around for decades. I wrote a report on this three years ago, for which I went through the news archives, and I found warnings about the NHS's imminent demise from every year since 1980. But somehow, it never happens. The NHS remains an unusually state-centred system. Most healthcare systems, including tax-funded ones, use a mix of public, private for-profit and private non-profit providers. There are no plans – secret or otherwise – to privatise the NHS. More's the pity. Because there is nothing wrong with private healthcare systems. There are good examples of private, insurance-based healthcare systems, most notably in the Netherlands and Switzerland, which are nothing like the dreaded system of the US. These systems cover everybody: poor people are exempt from health insurance premiums and co-payments. Under these systems, rich and poor alike get faster access to medical treatment, and better medical outcomes, than they would on the NHS. The only thing these people don't get is a naff feel-good mythology around their health systems. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Medscape
7 hours ago
- Medscape
Radiology Workforce Shortages Impacting Cancer Care
A chronic shortage of radiologists and oncologists is putting patients in the UK at risk, a new report found. The annual workforce census by the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) warned that the safe delivery of NHS cancer care is becoming 'increasingly impossible' due to an escalating shortfall of doctors coupled with rising demand for care. In 2024, the UK had a 29% shortfall of clinical radiologists, with regional gaps ranging from 25% in Scotland to 32% in Wales. The workforce grew by 4.7% that year — less than in 2023, when it increased by 6.3%. The college forecasts the radiologist shortfall will reach 39% by 2029. Oncology Under Strain Clinical oncologists are also in short supply, with a current 15% gap expected to rise to 19% by 2029. This is despite a 5.4% increase in the workforce in 2024—the strongest growth since 2018. The RCR reported that 23% of cancer centres were experiencing recruitment freezes, making it harder to meet growing demand. Demand Continues to Outpace Capacity The shortages threaten the government's plans to cut waiting times and improve cancer outcomes. In 2024, demand for computerised tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) grew by 8%, but workforce growth did not keep pace. Every radiology leader surveyed last year reported delays to diagnostic scans caused by staff shortages. Nine in 10 radiology team leaders reported that patients were waiting longer to start treatment, while seven in 10 expressed concern that staff shortages were putting patient safety at risk – down slightly from 85% in 2023. Chronic problems such as workforce shortages, reporting backlogs, and staff vacancies remain too high, according to Dr Robin Proctor, the RCR's m edical director responsible for professional practice and clinical radiology. Consultants Leaving Earlier Staff retention is worsening, with experienced consultants leaving the NHS at younger ages. In 2024, the median age of consultant clinical radiologists leaving the NHS workforce was 50 – down from 56 in 2020. Four in five (79%) of leavers were under 60, and two in five (42%) were under 45. Clinical oncologists followed a similar trend. Their median exit age dropped to 54, from 57 in 2023 and 59 in 2022. Nearly 76% of leavers were under 60, and 26% were under 45. One consultant clinical oncologist told the college that delays in scans and treatment were resulting in missed or late cancer diagnoses. Some patients' conditions were deteriorating or reaching a stage where treatment was no longer possible. Changing Work Practices 'Working conditions and ways of working need to change if we are to address this problem and meet the growing demand for our expertise,' Proctor said. The RCR has called on the government to invest in training and recruitment. In 2024, the NHS spent an estimated £325 million on temporary radiology staff. The cost of outsourcing had doubled since before the COVID-19 pandemic and had surged by almost a quarter in the past year. The RCR estimated that increasing radiology trainee numbers by 50% could eliminate three-quarters of the current shortfall and save the NHS £460 million over the next 10 years. 'Patients are being failed by a chronic lack of radiologists and oncologists,' said RCR president Dr Katharine Halliday. 'The longer we delay action, the worse it gets,' she added.
