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Team of the Year Award winner

This award recognises the work of an outstanding team within the Trust who have worked together effectively to deliver excellent service. 

The winners are: Lesley Ellison (Houghton le Spring), Judith Bell (Gateshead), Christian Houlis (Low Fell), Rosie Hind (Benton), Emma Ford (Gateshead)

The Occupational Health team at NEAS work relentlessly to help improve the physical, psychological health and wellbeing of NEAS staff.

Individually and as a team, the Occupational Health Service go over and above to help their colleagues.

The team is regularly seen out-of-hours and at weekends visiting ambulance stations and A&E departments in their Occupational Health bus always with a tin of sweeties, a smile and a flu jab.

Thanks to the commitment and dedication of Occupational Health, the Trust has benefited from the highest take-up of the flu vaccination to date, with almost 50% of frontline staff now vaccinated. As well as protecting staff and ultimately patients, this achievement helped the Trust secure a substantial pot of money for the service.

The problem of workplace stress is a common one and the Occupational Health team has developed a range of psychological services to help reduce the issue. Thanks to their work the Trust achieved ‘best in class’ in the annual staff survey in relation to dealing with staff feeling unwell due to stress.

Our Occupational Health team make an enormous difference to the lives of NEAS staff. In the words of one person nominating the team: “During my period of illness, Lesley Ellison and Judith Bell from the Occupational Health team supported me in ways I did not imagine possible. Timely interventions on my behalf meant I didn’t get lost in hospital paperwork and on a number of occasions was seen by GP rather than being fobbed off. These two ladies are pivotal to the wellbeing of staff through periods of illness and embody the caring attitude of the service.”