Dental Nursing Team, Our Orange Award. #proudtobeNHSG

We received our Orange Award in September 2020, it was nice for the dental nurses to be recognised for their work and support during COVID-19. We were recognised for being amongst the first to be temporarily deployed at the start of COVID-19 as health care support workers within Critical Care, Care of the Elderly, Orthopaedics, Stroke and Short stay medicine across ARI and Woodend; as well as being trained and leading on NHS testing centres. The whole team was proud and excited to receive our award. It was shared by NHS Grampian on social media and we have shared it everywhere as well.

The team nomination:
“This team was one of the first to be redeployed as part of NHS Grampian’s Covid response. These dental nurses were redeployed at a very frightening time when we really d not know what we were facing. They were extremely brave in taking on task which were so unfamiliar to them… It was really quite incredible how they adapted from their dental roles to take on such a variety of tasks both at ARI and at Woodend. They were understandably anxious but were very quick to learn and adapt and contributed significantly to the nursing workforce during the most difficult of times. They did this without any word of complaint and with good grace.

I feel their contribution should be recognised in some way as being some of the first to be redeployed and the last to be able to return to their normal place of work. To say they went above and beyond the call of duty does not tell the whole story. They were taken completely out of their comfort zone an showed remarkable resilience to adapt to the demands made on them in their very different roles.”

It was a huge change for us, we are three distinct teams normally but were required to spread across the organisation doing a role that we had never had to provide before; things like providing personal care. To try to support staff we, where possible, had more than one person assigned to an area. Whilst, they may not have been on the same shift as the other person they had a buddy in that area, which made a difference. For some we used whatsapp groups to stay in touch across the team, and we always shared information as and when we could. We received intensive three day training to ensure we had the up to date skills and were safe to practice. We covered things such as delivering personal care, assisting with feeding and observations. The staff in the areas we were working in were really understanding of how we felt and appreciative of the fact we were there to help. We also received local training to help us more specifically depending on the ward we were assigned to, for example in Stroke there was focused training on liquids and feeding. The award was presented to the team by Rachael Little, Employee Director: “As an invited member of the NHS Grampian System Leadership Team, I was delighted to be able to present the Orange Award to Lynn Sharp, Dental Nurse Manager and the Team of Dental Nurses. The team were amongst the first to be temporarily deployed as part of the System response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. They adapted to new and unfamiliar roles in a time of uncertainty. Their efforts have been described as above and beyond the call of duty. Recognition for staff is important at all times, but especially for their response during a global pandemic. The Orange Awards provide the opportunity to provide recognition for all the efforts of staff across the System, and is currently open for nominations from all staff groups and areas.”

45 Orange Awards have been presented since the start of May this year, they have been awarded to teams, individuals, clinical and non-clinical alike. All awardees had been nominated by their peers for the work they were doing. Feedback from those receiving awards and the individuals nominated on how it made them feel has shown the importance of continuing to publicly recognise and acknowledge the contribution of staff from across the organisation during the pandemic. It lets staff know they are valued and appreciated for their commitment and dedication. #proudtobeNHSG