Living our values: Recognising our Armed Forces

Recognising our Armed Forces

At LUHFT we are exceptionally proud of those colleagues who not only serve the NHS but also serve our Armed Forces. Chief Executive, James Sumner met with a group of the Armed Forces community at LUHFT at our Aintree site. It was a great opportunity to acknowledge and congratulate colleagues on their service and to hear about the variety of roles our reservists and veterans work in across our hospitals.

To find out more about being a reservist we spoke to Dianne Haddock, Assistant Director of Workforce and Wellbeing (pictured fourth from left) who is also the Commanding Officer of 208 Field Hospital.

“Having watched my mum be an active member of 208 Field Hospital in her capacity as a medic as well as raising seven children, I knew becoming a reservist would be something I would relish,” said Dianne.

“208 Field Hospital is an Army Reserve Medical Unit with over 150 Reservists across four locations in the North West. Many of our reservists work in the NHS in a variety of roles such as surgeons, nurses, and physiotherapists. Within LUHFT we have over 30 reservists and armed forces veterans. I joined 208 in January 1997, along with my sister who is also a nurse, as a Private Soldier, and within six months of joining, I found myself being selected for commission into the Officer Cadre.

“The skills I have developed in the military have supported me in the delivery of my NHS role, such as: leadership, communication, project management and building relationships. The ability to work well under pressure and in a challenging environment have been particularly useful in the planning and delivering of our successful COVID-19 mass vaccination programme across multiple sites.

“The Trust recognises the skills and expertise reservists bring to the organisation and offers additional paid leave to facilitate military training. I am immensely proud to be working in an organisation that is committed to supporting the Armed Forces community. “I never imagined that I would one day command the unit. My time in the reservists has been incredible and I continue to be involved in such amazing experiences with phenomenal people whose shared goal is to be trained and ready to deliver outstanding deployed healthcare anywhere in the world.”

LUHFT is a proud signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant and the recipient of a Gold Award in the Ministry of Defence's Armed Forces Employer Recognition Scheme.

LUHFT at Pride

LUHFT proudly took part in the Liverpool Pride march for the first time as a merged organisation to celebrate and support all LGBTQ+ people and communities.

Staff members from across LUHFT are working together as part of the LGBTQ+ Network to ensure all staff and our patients who are part of the LGBTQ+ community are recognised, supported, and valued. Our Trust has also been flying the Progress Pride flags on all its sites to show support.

Additionally, Axess Sexual Health launched their ‘Are you PrEP-ared for Pride?’ campaign, which highlighted the availability of PrEP from the NHS for those that need it. PrEP (known in full as pre-exposure prophylaxis) is a pill you can take to protect you from HIV.

The Axess Pride Team attended events at colleges, universities as well as marching in the Liverpool Pride parade. Axess colleagues, along with our specialist trans clinic, Butterfly, provided event-goers with sexual health advice, handing out contraception, information leaflets and answering any sexual health questions.

Team support breast cancer journey

Aintree Breast Care Team was awarded Team of the Month by LUHFT Chair Sue Musson following fantastic patient feedback.

The patient said: “They have been a phenomenal support to me throughout my journey, from the point of referral, breast cancer diagnosis through to pre and post mastectomy treatment.

“The strong team ethic is clear to see and reassuring to know when you are in their care. I was seen by all the team members, they all clearly communicated to each other about the concerns, risk and plan.

“I have always been treated as an individual, not felt like “just another patient” in what is clearly a very busy service. The humour, humility, honesty and kindness that has been given to me has kept me upbeat, given me faith that all will be ok when it may have been difficult for me to believe otherwise.

“My journey with the team isn’t over and seeing the nurses as excited as me because of successful treatment really was heart-warming. The breast care nurses, support workers, administrators, Mrs Shotri, her surgical team, and Mr Martin are all shining examples of kind and compassionate care givers in the NHS.”

Celebrating our colleagues

Congratulations to our latest Employee of the Month winners.

Stephanie Phoenix, HCA on Ward 4B, received a patient nomination saying: “She is fantastic – a genuine, kind-hearted person. It can get lonely and isolating without visitors, but she would sit and talk to you and show genuine interest. I had to have a lumbar puncture and she was there holding my hand and calming me down, and I’m so glad she was. Full of empathy and with a genuine love for her job!”

Olivia Hill, Bank Staff from Ward 9, was complemented by a patient saying: “She carried out her job with care and consideration, professionalism, sense of humour, and kindness, even with all that was going on in the ward.”