Five colleagues at Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) have received Cavell Star nursing awards for showing exceptional care both to their colleagues and to the families that they have worked with throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cavell Star Awards is a national awards programme that celebrates the dedication of nurses, midwives, nursing associates and healthcare assistants, and recognises the care they provide to patients and families as well as to colleagues.

Baljinder Sanghera, Sarah Papworth, Tina Braham and Bhavika Pancholi are all health visitors and Alison Barlow is a school nurse at LPT. Both health visitors and school nurses have continued their work right through the pandemic supporting young people and their families.

Clinical team leader, Asha Day, who nominated her five colleagues said: “All five of my colleagues have gone above and beyond throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and have shown that they are true professionals in what they do.

Our team of health visitors and school nurses are all frontline workers and have worked during the peaks of Covid-19.

I feel privileged to work alongside not only those I nominated for the Cavell Star Awards  but also my whole team as we really do come together to show exceptional compassion and care.”

Cavell Star Award winners:

Baljinder, who has 33 years of service with the NHS said: “I’m humbled and surprised to receive this award. It is really nice to be recognised as a team.” Baljinder was nominated for the award for supporting junior staff within her team through mentoring and coaching.  This has been made much more challenging during the pandemic as this has been done remotely and with limited contact with families.

Sarah said: “I work with the best team ever and I couldn’t do my role to the high standard that I do without their backing.” Sarah has 31 years of service to the NHS. Sarah was nominated for going above and beyond her role by taking the lead and getting the team galvanised each week, reviewing client records from caseloads of staff off sick due to Covid-19 and ensuring contacts that have to be made are completed on time.

Alison said: It’s not very often that school nurses get recognised – In Leicester we are lucky because the recognition for school nurses is recognised through LPT.” Alison was nominated for the Cavell Star Award for the support she has shown to her colleagues throughout the pandemic. She has ensured that her team can articulate concerns and often has advocated for team members.

Tina who actually retired and returned to LPT during the first wave of the pandemic said: “I really enjoy health visiting and I’m really glad that I came back to help where I can – Thank you for the award, it is a real privilege.” Tina was put forward for the award for showing dedication to her role and always supporting her team especially as many of the team have had to work from home or shield.

Bhavika said: “Thank you my team – I feel very honoured and privileged to have received this award.” Bhavika has 19 years of service with the NHS. Bhavika earlier this year showed what a true professional she was by pushing the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) code of conduct and ensuring that the her team were working to the highest standards.

Angela Hillery, CEO of LPT, also joined in to celebrate the achievements and highlighted the importance of health visitors and school nurses within the community as well as congratulating the five members of staff: “I’m so happy that I can congratulate our fantastic colleagues here at LPT. It is an honour to have them as part of our LPT family.”