THE LOCAL health board has announced the three finalists in the ‘Outstanding Leadership’ category at this year’s Best of Health staff awards. The Best of Health awards are organised annually by the Hywel Dda University Health Board to recognise and reward the extraordinary achievements of its staff and volunteers, many of whom often go beyond the call of duty in their work for the benefit of patients and service users. This year, 100 entries were received from across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire. The winners will be announced at the Best of Health Awards ceremony, sponsored by Health Shield at Parc Y Scarlets in Llanelli on Friday 16 January.

Lisa Gostling, Director of Workforce & Organisational Development said: “These nominations reflect just some of the high quality patient care provided by many of our staff and volunteers and highlight the fantastic efforts and achievements above and beyond their normal day-today work. I wish all the nominees the very best of luck.” The ‘Outstanding Leadership’ category seeks to recognise Hywel Dda staff, whose leadership has contributed to creating an environment where there are high levels of trust, and empowerment, underpinned by effective communication, collaboration and partnership working or the individual who has led a team or teams in identifying and making changes and improvements within own areas of responsibility and the finalists for 2014 are:

Sharon Evans, Senior Nurse for Infection Prevention and Control The nursing team led by Sharon were unanimous in their support of her nomination. Described by colleagues as ‘the essence of an outstanding leader, the type that the Hywel Dda both wants and deserves’ Sharon’s nomination demonstrates that as a leader she is level-headed and supportive; lives the message that there is no ‘I’ in team and demands high standards from all the team but constantly demonstrates those standards herself via a strong work ethic. As well as her work inside the University Health Board, Sharon is recognised as a leader in her field within NHS Wales, and is often turned to for an expert view in her specialist field and serves as a wise elder amongst her specialist as well as generalist colleagues across Wales.

Senior Paediatric Nursing Team Recognised as a team, the senior paediatric nursing team from Withybush and Glangwili Hospitals are finalists in recognition of their leadership shown through major service change. Described as role models to staff as they embrace change, their nomination describes the leadership shown as exemplary at a very difficult time for the service and recognises their continued focus, hard work, flexibility and support of the staff involved.

Peter Llewellyn, Assistant Director of Strategic Partnerships Peter’s nomination describes him as ‘that rare breed of manager and leader that can complete the journey from a dream to a successfully delivered project’. As an honest leader with open standards, Peter has been recognised for knowing the strengths and interests of his team and how to capitalise on this for Hywel Dda. His nomination focuses on his recent work in setting up the new Central Transport Unit which, thanks to Peter’s vision and tireless effort, has made major improvements to non emergency transport services across the University Health Board for both patients and staff. Chief Executive of Health Shield Jonathan Burton said: “It is a big achievement to be recognised for the great work that you do in any profession, but even more so at the Hywel Dda Best of Health Staff Awards. On behalf of all of us here at Health Shield I would like to say congratulations to everyone who has been shortlisted. “We would like to wish everyone the best of luck in the awards, and well done for reaching this stage. You deserve all the recognition you get as I know that you regularly go above and beyond the call of duty.”