RDH Anaesthetist Dr Caroline Bates surprised with Excellent Employee Making a Difference Award | Latest news

RDH Anaesthetist Dr Caroline Bates surprised with Excellent Employee Making a Difference Award

Kathy McLean and Caroline Bates

Dr Caroline Bates, Consultant Anaesthetist at Royal Derby Hospital, has been awarded an Excellent Employee award as part of the monthly Making a Difference Awards. Dr Kathy McLean, Chair of UHDB, was there to surprise Caroline with the award, as she took a quick break between her very busy duties in theatres.

The #TeamUHDB colleague who nominated Dr Bates said that she went above and beyond to arrange for urgent dental care at short notice for a patient with learning difficulties.

When the patient initially had concerns, Dr Bates spoke to them with “great compassion” and reassured the patient, and they agreed to have the procedure.

“She showed exemplary care that day”, said the colleague nominating Dr Bates, “and she went well above and beyond for this patient. For that, I felt I had to nominate her for this award.”

Dr Kathy McLean said: “I am incredibly impressed with Dr Bates’ quick thinking, compassion and expertise in supporting the patient.

“This was a very challenging situation, but Dr Bates sprang into action, utilising her skills and previous experience to liaise with a number of colleagues across disciplines to afford the patient the care they urgently required, despite their own fears and concerns.

“This is exactly the sort of exemplary care that we always strive to provide, going well above and beyond for our patients and the community.”

Dr Navneet Narula, Assistant Clinical Director in Anaesthetics and colleague of Dr Bates since 2005, said “She is a wonderful colleague to have, and she is always eager to help others however she can – both her colleagues and our patients.”

He shared how Dr Bates represents the wellbeing of speciality doctors in the Trust, and regularly brings their issues to anaesthetic meetings.

“She specialises in paediatric anaesthetics, leads on clinical governance and patient safety, and is keen on environmental friendliness with all we do – and we have cut down on our carbon footprint as a result. It’s not easy to fill her shoes when she’s unavailable!

“Dr Bates is always willing to help others, she always puts the patient first, and is an excellent colleague and human being. If anyone reading this has colleagues who’d they describe this way, you must point it out!

“In medicine we have to ensure the best possible standards are always upheld, putting the patient before anything and everything else, so it really helps colleagues maintain these exceptional standards when they are recognised for their hard work.”

“Positive reinforcement like this is always encouraging - not just for the winner, but also for their entire team, and UHDB as a whole.”

Want to nominate a colleague for a monthly Making a Difference Award?

Please let us know! There are four monthly Making a Difference Awards categories:

Chief Executive Award – chosen by our CEO

Patient Hero Award – nominated by patients

Team UHDB Award – you can nominate your team or another team

Excellent Employee Award – you can nominate your colleagues

You can send a 300 word nomination, along with the name of the team or individual, their job title and where they work, to: uhdb.employeeawards@nhs.net

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