Steve Hugh Award 2019

The Steve Hugh award is given in memory of Dr Steve Hugh, Shropdoc’s previous Medical Director who sadly passed away suddenly in 2005.  This award is given each year to a health professional or team who are responsible for providing or developing a service that goes beyond normal expectations to benefit patients.

Steve was involved with Shropdoc from its earliest days. He was committed to improving the quality of services and set the highest standards in clinical excellence. He was a major influence on the development of Shropdoc from a GP out of hours service into a service delivering the complex range of services they coordinate and deliver 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As the Medical Director of Shropdoc he showed great interest not only in the services provided by Shropdoc but also those of other allied health professionals in the local community.

This year Shropdoc has recognised a team of Clinicians and Administrative Staff who deliver a service for patients in a way that epitomises the patient centred approach and dedication to service excellence that Steve’s award recognises.

In our lifetime we will all be affected by or know someone who is diagnosed with cancer. Thankfully, the treatment options for cancer improve every year but unfortunately they carry with them some unpleasant side effects and risks. For patients undergoing systemic anti-cancer treatment this can be a scary and uncertain time, but help is at hand.

This year, the award panel has decided to give the Steve Hugh award to the entire Shropdoc Oncology Helpline Team, serving a patient population of over a million people 24-hours a day in Shropshire, Powys and Lancashire.

From the moment a patient’s call is answered, the team know precisely what to do, from the call handlers knowing the red flags requiring immediate 999 transfer to the oncology trained Nurses who calmly and compassionately assess each patient’s symptoms according to a nationally accredited oncology triage tool, drawing on their expertise as Shropdoc Nurses.

Patient feedback on the service is universally excellent and the service so well received by the Lancashire customer that in the summer of 2019, with only a few days’ notice, the team was able to re-configure the service from an out-of-hours helpline into a 24/7 one, to cover staff holidays in Lancashire. Since that time the team has been delivering care 24-hours a day, at the same time seamlessly juggling demand from the Care Co-ordination Centre workload and out-of-hours triage.

None of this is possible without selfless dedication and commitment of the whole Oncology Helpline Team who are this year’s worthy Steve Hugh award winners. Congratulations and well done!

See the article in the Shropshire Star here.