Exceptional people who go above and beyond to support NHS colleagues and service users were celebrated at ELFT Staff Awards Ceremony on 20 October 2022. 800 staff attended the event. Staff in Bedfordshire took matters into their own hands and organised a coach to be sure they arrived in good time! As always, our staff pulled out all the stops wearing formal attire, national dress, or party wear.

Nineteen awards were presented to outstanding individuals and teams at The Troxy in East London. This was the first time staff from all corners of the Trust had come together since being awarded an ‘Outstanding’ rating by the CQC so there was much to celebrate.

Comperes on the night were Chief Nurse and Deputy Chief Executive for London, Lorraine Sunduza, and Chief People Office Tanya Carter. They danced onto the stage in stunning African dress and kept the audience entertained all night with their banter. They brought out a cardboard cut-out of ex Chief Operating Officer Dr Paul Gilulley onto the stage as they felt “something was missing!” (Paul was one of the comperes last year.)

In their welcome, they acknowledged the achievements of staff over the past 12 months: 14 external awards and recognition, 50 successfully completed apprenticeships and 66 teams that have achieved service user accreditation.

Proceedings opened with a performance by #ELFTin1Voice, a choir made up of ELFT staff, service users and Choir Tower Hamlets singing ‘You’ve got a Friend’ with images of staff from across the Trust projected above them.

A range of presenters from within and outside of the Trust presented the awards including The Rt Hon. Stephen Timms, MP for Newham North, Dr Navina Evans, CEO of Health Education England, (onetime ELFT CEO), Zina Etheridge, CEO of NEL ICA, Felicity Cox, CEO BLMK ICA, Marie Gabriel, Chair of NEL ICS (and previous ELFT Chair) to name a few.

In his address, Chief Executive Paul Calaminus led a minute’s silence to remember staff who have sadly died in the last 12 months. He said, "The ELFT Staff Awards 2022 are an opportunity for us to celebrate and recognise your achievements over the last year - probably the hardest year since the start of COVID. But you have shone, you care for each other, you have a huge impact and you make a difference to the quality of people's lives.”

There were two stand-out moments on the night. The Tower Hamlets COVID Vaccination project received a Special Commendation. This was a group of staff and service users from learning disability and mental health teams. They undertook to be vaccination buddies/champions to support their peers in getting information about the COVID vaccine to make an informed decision, and support them with getting the jab if they wanted it. There were whoops of delight when the project team was invited onto the stage. Samantha Walker (Sam), Vaccination Champion for TH LD services, gave a poignant speech saying, "We really enjoyed being part of this project. Services should think about employing more people with a learning disability. We have a lot to offer!"

Mack Maclean was the winner of the ‘Because of You’ award was shocked to hear his name called at the winner. On the stage, when saying a few words of thanks, he found himself proposing to his partner of nine years, Pat, who fortunately said yes. The audience clapped and cheered. Talking about it afterwards, Mack said, “I took myself by surprise a bit too! I was not prepared for how receiving the award would feel. I was overwhelmed to be nominated, and even more so to win! It was just obvious to me what to do then.” Mack and Pat hope to marry next year when they will have been together a full decade.

Congratulations to all the winners and everyone nominated.