Your Health: Thank you for caring so much

Nov 9 2010 By Alison Dayani

EVERYONE from nurses to surgeons, volunteers and a pub were recognised at a Birmingham hospital’s awards ceremony.

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Edgbaston, held its Best in Care awards to honour those who have excelled in the past year.

Among the winners were inspirational surgeons who are leaving the profession – David Proops, who helped develop England’s cochlear implant network, and John Buckels, who pioneered the split liver technique to enable children to receive part of an adult liver for a transplant.

Mr Buckels, who has now retired, won the Outstanding Contribution Award for his role in making the hospital’s liver unit into one of the most active in the world.

While Mr Proops, who is about to retire, won the Governors’ Award for being instrumental in establishing the national network of cochlear implant centres which have restored the hearing for thousands of people.

Nurse Mary McMaster, who won the Care Quality Award, was praised for “always singing a tune to cheer people up”, while nursing colleague Gina Sowsbury won the Patient Carer Award for compassion with a patient newly diagnosed with breast cancer.