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Compass Group UK & Ireland’s NHS facing healthcare division, Medirest, has taken home several awards at the National MyPorter and National MyCleaning Awards, held on the 21 and 22 February 2023 respectively.
The awards are organised in collaboration with NHS England and this year received almost 200 entries, across clinical support services – particularly portering and healthcare cleaning. The awards recognise these unsung heroes within healthcare, shining a spotlight on the great, essential work they do.
Medirest won three awards at the National MyPorter Awards:
Jack Teague – Newcomer of the Year – Royal Surrey County Hospital
Over a year ago Teague moved to become Logistics Portering Manager at Royal Surrey County Hospital. Embracing a steep learning curve, Teague took ownership of the department towards the end of the pandemic, when infection protocols were particularly stringent and since then has worked tirelessly to seamlessly embed a new portering programme, making sure KPIs have been met and exceeded along the way. His work has also seen him go above and beyond, supporting with sustainability initiatives, taking on responsibility for the switchboard and waste, as well as being instrumental in assisting the catering and domestic teams to reach Exemplar status.
Victor Adjei – Porter of the Year – Chase Farm Hospital
Adjeir was named Porter of the Year for fulfilling his role with enthusiasm and compassion. Having been a Porter for five years, he prides himself on his patient centric approach, which he delivers with empathy and respect, ensuring he creates a safe environment for those he helps care for. Adjei’s amazing compassion shines through and has not faltered even when faced with personal adversity – when he insisted he wanted to continue his work to help others.
Ryan Lindsay – Leadership of the Year – Barnet Hospital
Lindsay won this award in acknowledgement of the way he has worked his way up the ranks to become Senior Supervisor, now leading a team of around 90. His colleagues recognise he is a gifted, natural leader who supports professionally and personally. These qualities stood out during the pandemic, when he was integral in setting up infection control systems. More recently he has also worked to improve inductions, making them informative and as welcoming as possible, plus supporting the security team to fulfil their roles.
The National MyCleaning Awards acknowledged Callum Lane – Newcomer of the Year – Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust
Having been with Royal Surrey County Hospital for four years, Lane was recognised for his exceptional efforts in leading a team through the pandemic, very closely followed by the task of switching to the 2021 National Standards for Cleaning. The team delivered this task flawlessly and ahead of recommended timescales, being awarded Exemplar site status for their efforts – the first hospital to achieve this acknowledgement for cleaning. He is now working with the Southern Health Trust, with the aim of achieving Exemplar site status for cleanliness there too.
Russell Blake, Managing Director – Healthcare at Compass Group UK & Ireland, commented: “Our people are at the centre of everything we do and these four individuals have truly delivered on our purpose, Performance with Heart.
“Cleaning and portering often go under the radar, but they are crucial to the smooth running of any hospital. I am very proud of our teams and especially to the four winners of these awards for working in a challenging environment, yet continuing to deliver outstanding services to the patients we care for and supporting clinical staff. A huge well done and thank you.”
Jack Teague, Logistics Portering Manager, said: “Making the move into the healthcare environment has been exciting and challenging, so being named the Newcomer of the Year is really rewarding. I have enjoyed learning about every aspect of the hospital, its patients and how we can support them and I hope to continue building these relationships further to maintain momentum in driving standards up wherever possible.”
Medirest operates across 23 NHS partner healthcare Trusts, employing several thousand employees to deliver the very best standards in service across catering, cleaning, portering and security. In October 2022, Compass’ Healthcare team also won the PENNA award for ‘Staff Engagement & Improving Staff Experience & Medical Education for Healthcare Professionals’ award in The Patient Experience Network National Awards (PENNA), for its Positive Impressions™ programme.
