Health & Life Sciences academics awarded regional NHS accolade

Frances Dodd, Head of Department for Occupation and Wellbeing, and Rachel Martin, Senior Lecturer, received a Golden Hearts PACT (Professionalism and Culture Transformation) Award for Positive Culture and Team Spirit 2016 alongside Nicola Gilchrist, Physiotherapy Manager at Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust (HEY) and her senior team. The awards scheme is an annual initiative by HEY and is judged by a range of individuals including medical professionals, patients and carers.

The nomination included Frances, Rachel and 20 clinical lead physiotherapists from the Trust and was based on a leadership coaching programme that the two delivered specifically for the physiotherapists. The 360 Transformational Leadership programme involved a number of processes including questionnaires, feedback, one-to-one coaching sessions and evaluations. Overwhelmingly positive feedback from the physiotherapy team in Hull who took part in the programme, resulted in the Golden Hearts award nomination.

An important aim of the programme was to ensure that all the clinical leads have the confidence to contribute to clinical quality, patient safety and service transformation. Another key aim of the programme was for the physiotherapists to reflect on 14 engaging leadership behaviours and supported by feedback from others across the service, further develop and enhance these behaviours. There was a noticeable improvement in the leadership style of many of the participants in demonstrating a greater awareness of the needs of their teams and the level of support they offer. By going through the programme, clinical leads gained insight into their own strengths and weaknesses, and learnt a methodology for changing behaviour which they can use to assist others in their team.

Commenting on the award win, Frances and Rachel said: “We are both so delighted to have won the award as it highlights our collaborative work with the physiotherapy team at Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. All the team were a pleasure to work with and we already have other continuation training days planned. Our bespoke leadership development programme ran over two years and received excellent feedback, whilst also having a positive impact on leadership behaviours, the team and the service as a whole.”