Five members of staff at Sirona have been crowned at a glittering award ceremony to mark the fifth birthday of the not-for-profit social enterprise.
The annual Sirona Awards for Excellence recognise the work of the organisation’s staff which goes ‘above and beyond’ usual duties.
Sirona care & health specialises in providing high quality community health and social care services and nominations for the awards came from the public and staff.
Occupational therapist Mark Greenwood received the Chief Executive’s Award for Taking it Personally from Janet Rowse for his dedication to the care of a couple living in Bath and for giving up his day off to ensure that the husband, who was housebound and had not left his home for several years, was able to attend his wife’s funeral.
The audience was told that although some of Sirona services are facing uncertainty in the light of Virgin Care being named as preferred bidder for community health and social care services in Bath and North East Somerset, the awards are a night to celebrate how staff make a difference to the lives of hundreds of people day in, day out.
Janet said: “It is important that we don’t let the outcome of the your care your way procurement cloud our view about all the things that we have achieved in our first five years because that will be the legacy we leave behind in B&NES and it is the foundation from which we will continue to grow.”
The Sirona Stars were special awards given by the Board to mark Sirona’s fifth birthday and to recognise achievement, dedication, team working and the outstanding care given to those who use Sirona services across Bath and North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
The winners announced by chairman Simon Knighton, non-executive directors Dusty Walker and David Purdon and Janet were:
- Maggie Dance and the team at Cleeve Court Community Resource Centre, Bath, for their work with people with dementia and achieving the Dementia Matters Butterfly Accreditation;
- Felicity Hudd and Alison Griffiths on behalf of the Emergency Preparedness Resilience Response Service for the response to the Bath Bomb;
- Alistair Walter and the Community Equipment Service for achieving a nationally recognised Quality Mark, ISO certification 9001;
- Dr Adrian Dighe and the Paediatric Audiology Service named best in the country for newborn screening;
- Cathy Daffada for her work in South Gloucestershire in setting up the rehabilitation service.
This year the awards, which were held at the Assembly Rooms in Bath, were sponsored by CFH Docmail and Sicon.
There were tears of joy, laughter and memories as photo slideshows reflected on Sirona’s five years making a difference to the communities it serves.
Simon told the audience: “Congratulations to you all – nominees, shortlisted and winners alike; we have always said our staff are our best asset and events such as tonight illustrate – if it needs to be illustrated – exactly why.”
Janet added: “I have said before that reading through all the nominations for these awards is one of my very favourite jobs because the stories behind each nomination are inspirational and because even the act of taking the time to nominate someone – whether that is from a member of the public or from a colleague – shows how much people care about what you and all our staff do.”