Congratulations to the GHA Staff. Well Deserved Awards

"On behalf of the GHA I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all of you on this auspicious occasion. Needless to say, it is an honour to once again address you on the occasion of our fourth annual awards ceremony, and to warmly welcome the nominees, your friends and relatives, our generous sponsors and all our invited guests.

As I mentioned in my foreword to the programme, this year we have received a considerable amount of nominations from a wide cross section of patients, relatives of patients, and work colleagues of nominees.

The citations, some of which will be read during the course of the ceremony, speak for themselves. Among other things, they pinpoint acts of humanity, of compassion, of caring attitudes, of devotion, and other human qualities which should be pivotal to the role of health care professionals and which is just as valued and appreciated by patients and their loved ones as is the prompt and successful treatment of their medical condition.

An innovation this year, which I personally warmly welcome, is the inclusion of the names of all the nominees in the programme and in the actual ceremony itself. I strongly believe that if a staff member is considered worthy by other persons of being nominated, they are also worthy of some form of recognition, even though they are ultimately not successful in winning any of the six awards.

Giving public recognition to someone, especially when it comes from people who benefit from that person's behaviour or actions can be a powerful motivational tool. It is very easy for healthcare staff to eventually become victims of job burn-out and demotivation. Most people entering the healthcare field do so primarily because they want to help others. Their motivation stems from their desire to make a difference in the world. Unfortunately, some lose this initial motivation for a variety of reasons, especially when they've been at it for a long time. Many of you not only take care of your patients, you may also have the responsibility of caring for children, aging parents and other family members. Very often, healthcare professionals spend their days giving so much to others that they barely have time for themselves. This kind of altruism can put a serious strain on motivation.

But whether you work for love of the job, for personal fulfillment, to contribute to something larger than yourselves, to accomplish your personal mission or to fill your life with activity, whatever your personal reasons for working, the bottom line is that we all want to be properly remunerated for our work. The reality is that money pays the bills. Money provides housing, feeds and clothes our children, sends our teens to University, caters for our leisure activities and provides for an eventual retirement.

To underplay the importance of money to people who work is a mistake. Just as giving public recognition and thanks to employees, as we are doing here today, is an important motivational tool, having your work valued with proper remuneration, is just as important. To some this might sound crude, but it's a reality which no-one should be ashamed of.

And on this vein, therefore, I take this opportunity to briefly talk to you about Agenda for Change, a revolutionary new pay deal which has been implemented in the UK's National Health Service.

The GHA is currently in the process of negotiating a version of Agenda for Change with Unite the Union, tailored to the unique circumstances of Gibraltar.

It will apply to all non-medical clinical staff including nurses, midwives, AHP's, pharmacists and laboratory scientists. Today, as we celebrate all that is good about the GHA, I particularly wanted to emphasise the importance of this initiative. Agenda for Change gives the Government and the GHA the opportunity, in a very tangible way, to give another form of recognition to the vital role played by our key healthcare workers across all our patient services. It is based on the need to ensure a fairer system of pay which supports modern working practices. It acknowledges that modern health care provision relies on flexible teams of staff providing patient care 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and it acknowledges the application of a wide and ever increasing range of skills and knowledge within our non-medical clinical workforce. It will enable us to deliver, in a meaningful and lasting manner, substantial improvements to your terms and conditions of service and also, importantly, to your remuneration.

It is also the collective aspiration of the GHA and your Union that Agenda for Change will assist the goal of achieving an improved quality workforce which will lead to improved patient access and quality of care.

We are very near to concluding our negotiations with your Union representatives, who I must say are a force to reckon with when it comes to trying to achieve the best possible deal for its members, and I am confident that when we do so, the resulting agreement will represent a significant milestone in the recognition afforded by the GHA and the Government to this large and vital sector of key healthcare staff.

And without further ado, I will allow this evening's proceedings to continue and take this opportunity to wish all the nominees the best of luck."

GHA CELEBRATES ITS STAFF'S ACHIEVEMENTS

Over 100 members of the GHA's staff and their guests came together to celebrate outstanding individual or team excellence in 2009 in the 6 individual awards and the long and loyal service of staff who have worked for the GHA for more than 25 years. Award winners in the individual/team categories were:

Patient Care Award: Dr Fareed Malik (Non Consultant House Doctor), Ward/Department of the Year: Critical Care Unit, Innovation Award: Alex Baglietto and Daniel Ressa - the 'TV Patient Entertainment' Team, Staff Award - Clinical: Desiree Noguera (Staff Nurse - John Ward), Staff Award - Non Clinical: Belinda Thwaites (Domestic), Employee of the Year: Sue Brown (Ward Sister - Victoria Ward) .

The GHA wishes to thank Triay Stagnetto Neish, Bentley Property Services Ltd, Rotary Gibraltar Ltd, Cougar Industries Ltd, Breckland Trading Co Ltd (Trading as Wallis, Evans, Dorothy Perkins and Topshop), Marble Arc, Gatsby's Eating House, Alfrend Swantex, Waterfront Restaurant and Gibmaroc Ltd for donating the prizes for the individual awards. Their generosity has served to raise the profile of the awards and to enhance the value of the whole programme in a significant and meaningful way.

<< Back