STAFF who work behind the scenes to ensure that hospital services can run effectively and efficiently have been recognised in the latest Trust staff awards.
Mark Thomas, who works as a specialist technician in the Medical Equipment Management Service (MEMS), received the employee of the month accolade for staying on after his working day and into the early hours of the morning to repair and replace a theatre display system.
The MEMS Team look after the 18,500 pieces of patient equipment and 700 electronically controlled beds in the Trust. On this occasion, a system which transfers images from surgical scopes, cameras and patient monitoring to displays for surgeons and other theatre staff, had stopped working. Mark, who has worked in the MEMS team for more than 13 years, stayed on overnight to ensure the system was up and running, and ready for an operation the following morning.
The Team of the month award was presented to the Clinical Coding Team for providing an effective service and making significant improvements despite staff shortages. This has included working longer days and at weekends to make sure the work gets done.
All healthcare procedures and treatments have an associated clinical code which is used to reimburse NHS organisations for the care and treatment they provide, and to help ensure high quality services.
Clinical coders are the people who translate what is written in patient notes into coded information. It is difficult to recruit qualified coders as the job is so specialised. It can take around two years to build up the basic knowledge needed, and training is ongoing as there are always new procedures and treatments being introduced.
Clare Panniker, Chief Executive, praised the staff award winners, saying: “Every member of Trust staff has an important role to play in providing high quality patient care. The ‘behind the scenes’ services, such as MEMS and coding, are often unsung but without their support the Trust could not function.”
