We know how important it is for patients and families to be able to see visitors. Please help us keep our patients and staff as safe as possible by checking the guidance below before you visiting.
Read more on visiting times...
We recognise the impact that a long stay in hospital can have on families and the importance of maintaining strong communication. Our ward staff are keeping in touch with patients’ next of kin directly and our Voluntary Services team can help pass on personal messages from family and friends.
After suspending visiting earlier in the year, we are now able to offer limited visiting to some wards at the discretion of the nurse in-charge.”
Read more on visiting times...
We recognise the impact that a long stay in hospital can have on families and the importance of maintaining strong communication. Our ward staff are keeping in touch with patients’ next of kin directly and our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) can help pass on personal messages from family and friends.
The Queen Alexandra Hospital is located just on the hill slopes of Portsdown Hill overlooking Portsmouth. It is conveniently situated for both the M27 and A3M.
Family members and carers play an important role in supporting patients during an episode of ill health. We are committed to the active involvement of family members, friends and carers during a hospital stay. Family members and carers play an important role in supporting patients during an episode of ill health.
More information on visiting hospital for an appointment.
If you've had experience of using our services and would like to make a comment then please contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS). Your views are very important to us and we would like to hear where you think improvements are needed or where things have gone so well that you would like to share your thanks or gratitude with the staff involved. When things have not gone so well then you can be sure that we want to hear from you, so please get in touch with PALS.
During your stay in hospital you will meet a number of different members of staff. All members of staff wear name badges, but if you are not sure who someone is or what they do, please feel free to ask them to introduce themselves and explain what they do.
If you have any questions about your treatment, please ask a doctor or a nurse.
There are lots of opportunities for you to get involved with the Trust, from volunteering to attending our public meetings, our Annual General Meeting or our hospital open day which is held every year.
We welcome and value your feedback and use the views you share with us in a number of ways to learn and make improvements as well as sharing best practice. Feedback can be provided in a number of ways.
Last updated: 21 September 2023
Melloney Poole OBE, Chairman of Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, is keen to recognise teams who are going above and beyond the requirements of their "day jobs" and are in an often unseen but crucial area of the hospital.
These are the people who are committed and passionate, who go about their job in a professional manner, giving their support generously to those around them and who may often be the last people to broadcast their successes.
Melloney will visit such areas on a regular basis to learn about these teams, their challenges and successes, the individual team members and how the service they provide is vital to the safe and efficient running of our hospital.
Melloney Poole, Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust and Isle of Wight NHS Trust was delighted to meet the Heart Failure team to present them with a very well deserved Hidden Heroes Award. The heart failure team provides a multi-disciplinary Heart Failure service for adult inpatients and outpatients in acute and chronic heart failure. The team monitor, prescribe and administer treatment for patients, including both physical and psychological support. They not only support the inpatient wards but also provide a heart failure ambulatory clinic and outpatient clinics to support the wider community. The service has been built from scratch by the team and despite increasing demand, they have continued to meet the standards set by NICE and provide ongoing support to both our inpatients and the wider community. Melloney was particularly impressed with the way the team are continuously finding new ways to improve the service, including the introduction of new referral pathways and the enhancement of the ambulatory service.
Melloney Poole, OBE Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals was delighted to present a Hidden Heroes Award to the Infection Prevention and Control team. This team provide an outstanding service in the support of all areas within the organisation. Their role is rich and varied with duties that cover support for exotic and unusual diseases, to working with contractors in new facilities and building works (most recently the new renal dialysis unit in Fareham). The team provide education to all members of the disciplinary team and provide assurance to the Trust Board through the audits and ongoing improvement work across the organisation. They provide IPC advice regarding site management, keeping disruption from closed beds to a minimum, and so much more. No ‘thank you’ could be complete without recognising the monumental work the team did keeping our staff and patients safe during the covid pandemic. They worked tirelessly and seamlessly to support, advice and act. They are a fantastic and dedicated team.
Melloney Poole, OBE Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals was delighted to meet the Gynae Outpatient and Inpatient Administration team to present them with a very well-deserved Hidden Heroes Award. This small and perfectly formed team book patients into clinics who have had an abnormal smear from the screening programme, prepare hospital notes, contact patients to ensure they can attend their appointment, deal with queries and cover reception duties. They are extremely proud of the work they do, always ensuring their patients arrive at the right place, at the right time with kindness and compassion so their patients always have the best possible experience at an often-anxious time. Melloney noted the teams willingness to go above and beyond to help others and presented them with a Hidden Heroes certificate, trophy, badges, sweet treats and a basket of fruit.
Melloney Poole OBE, Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust was delighted to present a Hidden Heroes Award to the Phlebotomy Team. This close-knit team of 40 members provides an invaluable service to PHU and the surrounding community. They work on very busy wards obtaining blood samples whilst causing minimal disruption, manage the day to day running of the swabbing team as well as the outpatient service. A recent success is the introduction of an early bird Phlebotomy round which supports timely discharge for patients. Melloney commended the team for going above and beyond the requirements of their day jobs in pursuit of a high quality service and was please to present a Hidden Heroes certificate, trophy, baskets of fruit and sweet treats.
Melloney Poole OBE, Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust was delighted to meet the Tissue Viability Specialist Nursing team to present them with a coveted Hidden Heroes Award. The Tissue Viability team’s role is to respond to inpatient referrals of patients identified with existing skin damage, and those patients with potential to develop skin damage whilst in our care. They provide expertise regarding treatment options to heal complex wounds as well as education to staff in how to avoid pressure ulcers from developing or deteriorating further during their hospital care. Melloney recognised the quality improvements that are occurring in part due to their persistence in messaging the key principles of early identification, effective interventions, escalation of patients with skin damage and the introduction of a mandatory ESR pressure ulcer education module. All of which has greatly contributed to a decrease in unstageable/category 3 pressure ulcers during the past 12 months. Melloney noted the team’s commitment, professionalism and passion and presented them with a Hidden Heroes certificate, trophy, badges and a basket of fruit.
Melloney Poole OBE, Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals was delighted to meet with members of the Breast Screening Administration Team on the 18th April to acknowledge them as her Hidden Heroes. The 6 strong team are responsible for the provision of administrative support to the Breast Imaging Service and Melloney was pleased to meet them all including Becky Baker who is the longest serving team member and Tee Sriperm who joined in January this year. This committed and passionate team, who go about their job in a professional manner managed to maintain a full administrative service to both Screening and Symptomatic Services during the Screening recovery period when capacity had to increase by 50% to remove the backlog caused by the pause during the pandemic. Melloney noted that this team often go above and beyond the requirements of their jobs in a crucial but often unseen area of the hospital and was pleased to present them with a Hidden Heroes certificate and trophy, Hidden Heroes badges and a basket of fruit.
Melloney Poole OBE, Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust was pleased to meet the Emergency Medical Assistants (EMA’s) to present them with a well-deserved Hidden Heroes Certificate, Hidden Heroes badges, trophy, chocolates and a selection of fruit. The team currently have 22 EMA’s with an additional 5 joining in the next 6 weeks and part of their role is assisting patients move on to either wards, home, CT’s you name it they do it! They quite often run urgent samples over to the pathology labs too as well as being on call for our Nurses/Consultants/Admin/PFA staff. They are an integral part of ensuring our patients have a smooth transition while with us. There have been several challenges for our EMA’s, the pressures of the department, the impact of covid has really hit the team hard and they obviously are privy to seeing some quite traumatic scenes which can leave its own marks. The team are always busy very often hitting over 40,000 steps in 1 shift! They are a very much loved and hardworking team within the Emergency Department that none of us could do without. Cheryl Lipscombe, ED Administration Manager said, “Absolutely amazing for them, they’re so deserving, absolute grafters!”
Melloney Poole OBE, Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust was pleased to meet the Learning and Development Administration Team to present them with a well-deserved Hidden Heroes Certificate, Hidden Heroes badges, trophy, and a selection of fruit. This team is made up of ten members of staff who support educators, students, and trainees by providing administration services for a wide range of programmes, induction, study days, funding applications and pay claims. This professional team also manage the education centre and reception and help staff with ESR and any other learning and development queries. They are particularly proud of their ability to come together quickly and effectively to support each other when difficult situations arise, such as COVID and the recent critical incident. They are proud to ensure that all their students are looked after, and that their education has minimal disruption. Melloney noted that this teams care and compassion for each other as well as the people they support shone through. Lynn Hansell, Head of Business Management Education said, “they are a wonderful team – I am very proud of them and so pleased they got this recognition.”
Melloney Poole OBE, Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals University NHST was delighted to present a Hidden Heroes award to the Analytics and MIS team this week. This team of 25 unsung heroes gathers data from each patient encounter, evaluates it, and uses the results to draw conclusions that may be put into practice, and using these insights, the Trust is able to identify practical plans to improve patient experience and outcomes. Key tasks include; activity and performance monitoring, production of waiting lists, future forecasting, identification of potential areas of efficiency, benchmarking, monitoring data quality, supporting audits and ad-hoc requests. Some of the team’s biggest challenges were also their biggest successes, they were able to provide a continued level of support to the Trust with business-critical reporting maintained during the pandemic as well as some team members supporting clinical colleagues on the wards during winter pressures. Melloney presented the team with a Hidden Heroes Certificate, trophy, badges and baskets of fruit for going above and beyond their ‘day jobs’ in the delivery of an exceptional level of support to the Trust. Congratulations!
Melloney Poole OBE, Chairman of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust was delighted to visit the Bereavement Services Team on the 27th September. Melloney spent some time talking with this small team who support every family of patients who sadly pass away in the Trust; with legal paperwork, property and valuables, arranging funerals for babies and tissue remains, supporting the Medical Examiner process as well as liaising with the registry office, coroner’s office and GP services. Melloney was impressed with how the team work so well together in a difficult environment to ensure that patient’s procedures take place on time. Throughout challenging times this team are compassionate, always professional and upbeat. It is clear that this team are continuously going above and beyond the requirements of their ‘day jobs’ to deliver a high quality service in an unseen but crucial area. Melloney was pleased to present the team a Hidden Heroes certificate and a basket of fruit.
On the 23rd of August Melloney Poole OBE, Chairman of Portsmouth Hospitals was delighted to visit the IT Service Desk at Rodney Road to present them with her Hidden Heroes Award. This award is presented to teams who have been recognised as going above and beyond the requirements of their ‘day jobs’ to deliver an exceptional level of support to the Trust in an often unseen but crucial area. The IT Service Desk provide IT Support via the MyCall portal, telephone or face-to-face appointments to the PHU workforce, as well as NHS Community Trust staff and Social Services that have access to our services. This calendar year so far, the team have taken 43,603 calls. During the pandemic the team ensured a relatively seamless transfer of thousands of staff to remote working practices with the average daily number of users working remotely increasing from around 150 per day to 2,500. The team also designed and delivered the Family liaison IPADS to allow patients to communicate with family when visiting was not allowed. Melloney was particularly impressed with the commitment and enthusiasm that was demonstrated by each member of the team and was proud to present a Hidden Heroes trophy, pin badges, certificate and basket of fruit.
Melloney Poole OBE, Chair of PHU was delighted to present a Hidden Heroes Award to the Chaplaincy Team who provide spiritual and pastoral care to patients and their families as well as wellbeing support for staff. The team undertake ward walks, work with the Bereavement Maternity team to provide naming ceremonies and funerals for our youngest patients and work within Networks, the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team and internationally trained nurses to offer support. This team provided compassionate and invaluable ongoing care to staff, patients and their families during lockdown and separation, carrying out funerals and helping families come to terms with the death of a loved one. The team are proud to be able to support and work alongside the rich diversity of PHU teams and departments and of being chosen to speak to His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge as part of his support and recognition to front line workers. Melloney presented the team with a Hidden Heroes Certificate, trophy, badges and a basket of fruit for being committed and passionate and for giving their support generously to those around them.
Melloney Poole OBE, Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust was delighted to meet with the Helipad Fire Rescue Team to recognise them as her Hidden Heroes. The helipad was opened in 2007 by Stuart Burnham, the longest serving team member. This team of ten undertake facilities management roles throughout the day and in the event of an incoming helicopter immediately attend the helipad and prepare the firefighting systems ready for use and to provide a fire response role in the event of an emergency. Once landed, the team help transport the patient to the receiving department along with the helicopters medical team and porters. The team were challenged throughout the pandemic with 7-day coverage of the helipad and are particularly proud of the completion of phase one of a refurbishment which has resulted in the helipad here at QA Hospital being one of the most compliant in the country. Melloney congratulated this team of hidden heroes and presented them with a Hidden Heroes certificate, pin badges, a trophy and a basket of fruit.
Melloney Poole OBE, Chair of PHU was delighted to meet with the Frailty Interface team to recognise them as her Hidden Heroes. This highly skilled and flexible team pulled together as a ‘family unit’ to ensure that patients admitted with frailty received a high level of care by providing specialist advice and support to all teams within the Trust as well as comfort and support to patients and their families. Melloney was thrilled to present this exceptional team, working in an often unseen role with a basket of fruit, certificate, trophy and Hidden Heroes lapel badges.
Melloney Poole OBE, Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust was delighted to meet with the Safeguarding Service to recognise the team as her Hidden Heroes. This team of 17 unsung heroes have protected over 4,000 patients this year through the provision of advice, supervision and training. The team faced significant challenges during the pandemic due to families being isolated leading to an increase in domestic violence, self-neglect, mental ill health and non-accidental injuries. The team knew that this cohort of vulnerable patients would be at much higher risk of harm and along with colleagues became the ‘eyes and ears’ for the detection of abuse and neglect. The service was adapted to support these challenges which included an enhanced domestic abuse training package, Safeguarding Specialists were deployed to ITU, bespoke support to wards, the creation of a Safety Hub and weekly meetings with health, social care and Police colleagues. Melloney congratulated the team and presented them with a Hidden Heroes certificate, pin badges, a trophy and baskets of fruit.
Melloney Poole OBE, Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust was delighted to recognise the Macmillan Cancer Information and Support Centre team as her Hidden Heroes. The team are made up of 4 staff and 40 volunteers who provide emotional support, information, services and signposting to anyone affected by cancer, including patients, their families and carers, as well as health and social professionals. The team often support Clinical Nurse Specialists with supportive listening sessions after particularly difficult consultations, host a number of workshops for patients and carers, offer complimentary counselling and psychological support, citizen’s advice bureau clinics for all financial needs and a hair loss clinic. The volunteer therapists offer a range of free, complementary therapies (such as massage, reiki, reflexology and aromatherapy) to patients in active treatment. Melloney was particularly impressed with the team for always going above and beyond with kindness and compassion for our most vulnerable patients and families.
Melloney Poole OBE, Chairman was pleased to meet with the Portsmouth Hospitals Charities Team on 25th January to recognise them as Hidden Heroes. The team have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic, despite significant challenges including the cancellation of fundraising events, the closure of the charity shop and working with a reduced team at times. However, the team have remained steadfast in their ambition to raise awareness and funds to provide PHU with grants to enhance patient care and support staff wellbeing. And as a result have been successful in raising over £100k in a Covid appeal and managing over 200k of grants from the NHS Charities Together to support over 9000 staff with a range of treats and wellbeing initiatives, as well as re-opening the Charity Shop as a pop-up in the main atrium. Melloney was delighted to present this team who go above and beyond out of sight of patients with a Hidden Heroes certificate and pin badges, a basket of fruit and trophy.
Penny Emerit, CEO was pleased to meet with the Site Management Team on 22nd December to recognise them as Hidden Heroes on behalf of Melloney Poole OBE, Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals. The team are responsible for the overall management of the site 24/7, predominantly managing flow through the hospital from the Emergency Department to the wards, responding to emergency calls and are the point of escalation for all areas out of hours. And despite the many challenges faced during the pandemic they are a team who are still smiling. Penny noted that this team encapsulated the true meaning of hidden heroes as they deliver an often unseen but vital service and are the last to broadcast their successes. Penny was delighted to present the team with a certificate, trophy, Hidden Heroes badges and baskets of fruit to recognise their endeavours. Congratulations!
Melloney Poole OBE, Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals was delighted to meet with members of the eRostering Team on the 26 October to acknowledge them as her Hidden Heroes. The 11 strong team are responsible for the implementation of a variety of workforce planning tools, including HealthRoster which they maintain, review and promote best practice as well as providing support and training to existing and new users.
At the start of the pandemic the decision was made to utilise HealthRoster to capture all staff absences and to create the Staff Support Line. At the time HealthRoster was not fully implemented or set up to allow this so this generated a significant challenge that the team responded to enable and configure. The team also formed part of the staff support line for first three months.
Throughout the pandemic the team continued the roll out of HealthRoster to ensure our organisation with 8.5k staff has clearer visibility and reassurance of where and when it’s staff are working. So far there are 325 rosters which have 7,000 staff members using HealthRoster to record when we are at work and when absent – around 450,000 hours of work time is recorded every month and the team have trained 1,500 managers to use the systems.
Tom Weeks, E Systems implementation manager said: "It’s wonderful to be recognised as ‘Hidden Heroes’. There have certainly been some significant challenges the team have had to face, but I am very pleased the team have continued to move forwards and responded positively to changes more often than not with a smile on their face.”
Melloney Poole OBE, Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust was pleased to meet the Communications and Engagement Team to present them with a well-deserved Hidden Heroes Certificate, Hidden Heroes badges and a selection of fruit. This team is made up of eight members of staff and manages all communications and engagement for PHU; including communicating to all colleagues and our local community, the public website and internal intranet, social media, video and relationships with key stakeholders.
During the pandemic the team worked swiftly to establish new communications channels, brief the Trust about ever-changing government guidance, and help communicate effectively with our patients, local community and public.
Launching the COVID-19 vaccination hub with significant media coverage of one of the first people in the world to be vaccinated was a great success. Melloney recognised the team as the life blood of Portsmouth Hospitals, who go above and beyond the requirements of their ‘day jobs’ in pursuit of a high-quality service in an unseen but crucial area.
On Tuesday 24 August, Melloney was pleased to visit the Sewing Room team based on B Level at Queen Alexandra Hospital. Jan Harris, team supervisor, gave Melloney a guided tour of the sewing room and introduced her to the team members. Melloney was taken with the number of uniforms the team order and alter for new and existing staff working at QA, Gosport, St. Mary's and the Isle of Wight and that this has been maintained during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Melloney was interested to discover that the team also do private alterations and curtain making for a small charge, the proceeds donated to charity. Melloney recognised the team as Hidden Heroes by presenting a certificate, trophy, pin badges and a selection of fruit.
Melloney was also pleased to present a Hidden Heroes award to the six members of the post room team on Wednesday 24 August. She enjoyed meeting members of the team and hearing how they collect, sort and deliver between three and four thousand pieces of mail each day. Melloney was impressed with the high level of organisation the team had in place which ensures mail gets where it needs to on time. She was delighted to present a Hidden Heroes certificate, trophy, pin badge and fruit selection to this team who go above and beyond.
Melloney was pleased to present the Hidden Heroes Award to members of the Housekeeping Team today (27 July). The team consists of 220 staff working 7 days a week to ensure that meals are delivered to patients. Throughout the pandemic colleagues have been supporting each other when they may have been worried or experiencing a difficult time due to feeling isolated or when a family member has been ill or at risk.
Melloney noted the incredible support and morale the team demonstrated and stated that they have provided an amazing response to the Covid-19 pandemic and had contributed to excellent patient care. The team had worked together through difficult times; adapting, responding and delivering throughout. Melloney was pleased to thank the Housekeeping team and recognise them as Hidden Heroes by presenting a certificate, trophy and sweet treat.
Over the past year, the support line has been largely manned by some of our more vulnerable staff who were redeployed from across the organisation. They brought a range of different skills and experience to the role, while some were completely new to administrative and telephone duties, but took it in their stride to enable them to continue working throughout the pandemic. Melloney enjoyed spending time meeting the team last Tuesday (29 June) when she presented them with their Hidden Heroes certificate and two baskets of fruit, and heard how the service has provided support and wellbeing to staff and eased managers’ administrative workload to enable them to spend more time with patients.
In the last year, the team supported 35,850 staff calls and received 7,229 calls into the managers support line. Additionally, over 13,784 welfare calls were made.
This unseen team provide a vital role in assisting the wider clinical team and ensuring the smooth day to day running of the Unit by making up to 500 milk feeds per day for up to 31 babies. Attention to detail, time management and the ability to adapt to change are a major aspect of their role.
Medical Photography and Illustration is a department of eight, working from their offices on C level, that offer a full clinical photography service which is the recording of clinical conditions presented by patients, used for diagnosis or for recording a condition during the stages of treatment.
Often photographing patients undergoing treatment in Dermatology, the Emergency Department, Plastics, Breast Services and Paediatrics amongst others. The team photograph patients in their bespoke studio, clinics, wards, theatres and the mortuary. The team also offer graphic design, public relations and reproduction service for patients and Trust departments.
This is a happy, hardworking and dedicated team who provide an often hidden but vital service for patients treatment and for departments.
The Library and eLearning Service plays a key role in supporting efficient and effective hospital operations by providing information and knowledge services to clinicians, decision makers, and healthcare staff throughout the Trust. The Library and eLearning Service has been key in assuring a well-trained and well-informed clinical work force. Melloney was particularly impressed with the way in which this team work hard to keep books alive in a digital age. She was pleased to present the team with a certificate and a basket of fruit.
Melloney was impressed with the broad remit of this invaluable team, reviewing infectious patients, placing and reviewing PICC lines, hydrogen peroxide contamination, cleanliness, hand hygiene and device care amongst others. The Team also provide a wealth of teaching to Trust staff including the Cannulation and Phlebotomy study days, and to external agencies.Last year, the Team carried out over 10,000 patient reviews, as well as managing over 2000 IV access referrals, of which 942 required placement of a device. They achieved the lowest rate of hospital-onset C.difficile infection since 2007, and was one of the best performers in England. Melloney was delighted to recognise this team as going above and beyond the requirements of their ‘day jobs’ in pursuit of a high quality service user experience in an often unseen but crucial area.
This team is made up of three members of staff, Caroline, Donna and Louise who are supported by five volunteers, Yvonne, Terry, Sally, Harley and Terri.The team recruit volunteers continually strive to improve the experience of the volunteers as well as supporting the Happy to Chat team of volunteers who enrich and enhance the emotional health, wellbeing and overall hospital experience of our patients.The team are busy recruiting Butterfly volunteers who provide companionship at a very difficult time by just sitting quietly in a room with a patient, being there to give temporary respite to relatives and carers.Melloney recognised this team as committed and passionate, who go about their job in a professional manner, giving their support generously to those around.
Melloney Poole OBE, Chairman of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust was pleased to present a Hidden Heroes Award to the 35 members of the Clinical Coding Team on the 29th August.Melloney enjoyed meeting members of the team and hearing how they convert sometimes very complex information from patients notes into strict codes which ensure PHT receives reimbursement for treatment and care.She was impressed with the high level of skill and dedication of the whole team which ensures they meet monthly targets and have improved audit results.Melloney was delighted to present this team who go above and beyond out of sight of patients with a Hidden Heroes certificate and two baskets of fruit.
Melloney Poole OBE, Chairman of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust was delighted to visit the Endoscopy Decontamination Team on the 6 August 2019.Melloney spent some time talking with this small team who wash and process up to 80 endoscopes (which are flexible cameras used to look into the stomach or bowel) per day.Melloney was impressed with how the team work so well together in a difficult environment to ensure that patient’s procedures take place on time.It is clear that this team are continuously going above and beyond the requirements of their ‘day jobs’ to deliver a high quality service in an unseen but crucial area.Melloney was pleased to present the team a Hidden Heroes certificate and a basket of fruit.
Melloney Poole OBE, Chairman of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust was delighted to meet some of the Emergency Department Administration team on the 4th July to present them with a well-deserved Hidden Heroes Award.The team covers Gosport Minor Injuries and the Queen Alexandra site and is made up of 29 members of staff. They are responsible for booking in all the patients that attend the emergency departments whether they self-present or arrive by ambulance, directing patients and relatives around the department and answering telephone queries. They play a huge role in supporting clinical teams with any administration duties and being compassionate to patients and relatives in difficult times. Melloney was impressed with the teams flexibility and resilience and the way in which they treated everyone as if they were their own family.
Melloney Poole, OBE was delighted to present a Hidden Heroes Award to the Finance, Information, Cashiers, Contracts and Performance Teams.These unsung heroes support Trust staff to make the best use of the financial resources that are available by providing information and advice in financial and NHS contract matters. As well as providing Trust wide expert support on delivery of the performance agenda, developing strategy and providing dedicated performance support care group level.Melloney was particularly aware of how the work that these teams do enable our services to provide the best possible care for patients.
On the 16th May Melloney Poole OBE, Chairman of Portsmouth Hospitals was delighted to visit the Health, Safety and Wellbeing team to present them with her Hidden Heroes Award.This award is presented to teams who have been recognised as going above and beyond the requirements of their ‘day jobs’ to deliver an exceptional level of support to the Trust in an often unseen but crucial area.The Health, Safety and Wellbeing team are responsible for the provision of effective health safety and wellbeing services for PHT staff, working behind the scenes to ensure staff are fit and healthy in order to provide the best service for our patients.Melloney was particularly impressed with the commitment and enthusiasm that was demonstrated by each member of the team and was proud to present a Hidden Heroes certificate and baskets of fruit.
Melloney Poole OBE, Chairman of Portsmouth Hospitals was delighted to meet the Resuscitation Training Team in the QuAD Centre to present a Hidden Heroes Certificate and a basket of fruit. There are nine team members who are Sue Davey and Katrina Perkinson, administrators, Mick Collins and Pauline Puntis the volunteers, Carl Davies, Marianne Garcia, George Reynolds and Amy Mirner the Resuscitation Officers and Nicky Sayer the Resuscitation Manager.The team organise and deliver around 500 resuscitation training courses per year for PHT staff which equates to over 6000 places per annum. As well as delivering training the team are very involved in patient safety work such as prevention of cardiac arrests, reviewing all the emergency calls made for the cardiac arrest team, auditing standards related to cardiac arrests calls and equipment and Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation decisions in PHT. The team are also very proactive in ensuring any learning from safety learning events is incorporated into their training programmes and work closely with their colleagues in Learning and Development, Simulation and ALERT to ensure this happens in all deteriorating patient/resuscitation education programmes in PHT. Melloney was particularly impressed with the flexibility of training available.
Melloney Poole OBE, Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals was thrilled to meet the Neurophysiology team on D level at QAH.This team performs three broad types of tests looking at the electrical signals in nerves, muscles, spinal cord and brain.EEG (electroencephalopgraphy) records electrical activity from the brain, particularly in epilepsy.Nerve conduction studies look at the cable properties of nerves in conditions where nerves are trapped like carpal tunnel syndrome or generally inefficient such as peripheral neuropathy and the evoked potentials test where they follow nerve pathways to the brain for conditions such as multiple sclerosis. Melloney was particularly impressed with the level of scientific skill within the department and that now senior scientists had joined the team some time ago and had developed their qualifications and skills at PHT.Melloney was delighted to present a Hidden Heroes certificate and fruit basket to the team for their delivery of an exceptional level of support to the Trust in an often unseen but crucial area.
Melloney Poole OBE, Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals was delighted to meet the simulation team which includes Lisa Toft Senior Clinical Educator, Emma Williams Clinical Educator and Emma Shaw Administrator.This team organise and deliver simulated education for all staff both clinical and nonclinical in various environments. Melloney was impressed with the way this type of education enables the individual learner and clinical teams to practice techniques safely to enhance their knowledge and skills to improve patient safety. As well as delivering education in the Simulation Suite and the ViMARS Clinical Skills rooms in the QuAD Centre the educators also go out into clinical environments to recreate scenarios in practice called In Situ Simulation. This enables areas to embed learning from safety learning events and practice in their ‘real’ environment safely. Melloney was thrilled to present a Hidden Heroes certificate and fruit basket to the team for their delivery of an exceptional level of support to the Trust in an often unseen but crucial area.
Melloney was delighted to attend the Integrated Discharge Service local Awards ceremony and present the team with a Hidden heroes Award. The Integrated Discharge Service is made up of Over 50 multi-professionals from the PHT Discharge Planning Team, Southern Health, NHS Solent, Hampshire County Council and Portsmouth City Council.The team is co-located and covers every part of complex discharge including packages of care, nursing/residential home placements, out of area, homelessness, community beds, reablement services, discharge to assess beds, complex family scenarios, legal and more.Melloney was particularly pleased with the improvements the team had made with the number and speed of discharges and with the whole team in general.
On Thursday 29th November, Melloney Poole OBE, Chairman of Portsmouth Hospitals was pleased to visit the Clinical Engineering Department which is based on F level, QAH.Steven Chivers, manager of the team gave Melloney a guided tour of the department and introduced her to team members.Melloney was taken with the high level of technical skill as well as the diversity and complexity of the work the department covered, including but not limited medical equipment repair and maintenance, medical device training, the medical equipment library, bone density and a comprehensive administration service. Melloney was delighted to recognise the Clinical Engineering Team as Hidden Heroes by presenting a certificate and a selection of fruit.
On Thursday 25th October 2018, Melloney was pleased to visit the HSDU department on F Level. The HSDU team ensure that medical instruments are processed so that they are safe for use on patients. They endeavour to keep abreast of changing legislation and how this will affect safety accreditation and Medical Devices Directive.
Helen Campbell, Decontamination Manager, gave Melloney a guided tour of the department and was extremely proud to show her the corridor of impressive certificates and qualifications that the team have achieved. The department offer great career development and educational opportunities to all staff which they are very proud of.
On Melloney’s visit it became evident how well the HSDU team work together and she could sense the great vibe amongst colleagues. Melloney was thrilled to present HSDU with a certificate and fresh fruit baskets in recognition of their team working and contribution to patient care.
On Tuesday 18th September Melloney was pleased to visit the Atrium to acknowledge the fantastic work of those who meet and greet visitors, patients, carers and relatives with a smile and warm welcome. Melloney was delighted to recognise these staff and volunteers as Hidden Heroes for their professionalism, kindness and incredible knowledge of our hospital by presenting certificates and some fruit baskets.
On Thursday 30th August Melloney awarded the Trust Headquarters Executive Administration Team with her Hidden Heroes Award. This is to recognise their continuous hard work and support to the Executive Team. They often go above and beyond their duties and the Chairman wished to thank them personally for their efforts.
On Friday 24th August Melloney was pleased to visit the Health Records Department which is located at Mitchell Way and houses 1.6 million records, receiving on average 500,000 requests for case notes every year. Melloney met with individual team members who told her that they carry out a variety of roles including the retrieval, management and preparation of medical records, Access Requests and the delivery of medical records around the QA site. There are 71 members of the team with Jane Tanner being the newest with 2 years’ service and Jane Kill as the longest member of staff who celebrated 30 years’ service just 2 days before Melloney’s visit. The department are most proud of the whole team who are dedicated and very hard working and in particular their retrieval rate from the library which is on average 99.6%. The greatest challenge is the lack of boxes and wheels to transport medical records to clinics. Melloney was delighted to recognise the Health Records Department as Hidden Heroes for their commitment, professionalism and ‘can do’ attitude by presenting a certificate and some fruit baskets.
On Friday 13th July Melloney was thrilled to visit The South of England Procurement Team at Hedge End to learn about the team, their challenges and successes, the individual team members and how the service they provide is vital to the safe and efficient running of our hospital. Melloney was impressed with the way the team come together to solve problems and the way they worked collaboratively to develop and implement innovative and money saving solutions. Melloney was delighted to recognise the Procurement Team as Hidden Heroes for their accomplishments, professionalism and continuous improvement by presenting a certificate and some fruit baskets.
The Mortuary team members are; Wendy Ayling, John Shave, Clare Fountain, Simon Petts, Daniel Gudgeon and Marie Clemens. John is the longest serving team member 19 years in the Mortuary but 39 years in the trust in total and Marie is our newest member and is our MLA but Daniel is our newest technical member of staff who has just completed his written exams with flying colours.They are a small team who deal with around 3500 deaths per year of which 1200 of those will be Coroner’s post mortems. They have a viewing area for relatives to come and see their loved ones and they provide an out of hours service so there is cover 24/7. In addition the team currently run a perinatal consent training course where they train Clinicians and Midwives from ours and other Trusts to be able to take informed consent for post mortems and take part in the University of Portsmouth Paramedic course. The department has developed an out of hours process for the urgent release of a body for religious reasons to ensure that the body can be buried according to the relevant faith and for paediatrics that are returning to a hospice so that the family can spend precious time with them.
Melloney was delighted to recognise the Mortuary Team as Hidden Heroes for the care, compassion and professionalism they display at all times by presenting a certificate and a fruit basket.
Melloney Poole OBE, Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, visited the Supplies Team at Queen Alexandra Hospital on Thursday 26th April 2018 and presented the team with a ‘Hidden Heroes’ certificate to thank them and show her appreciation for all they do. The team of 22 staff provide a Supply Chain Management Service to the Wards, Clinics and Departments releasing clinical time back to the patient. They are a skilled and dedicated team of Supply Chain Professionals with a proven track record of reducing expenditure, waste and improving processes and have won a number of national awards! Supply Chain staff manage stock on behalf of the Wards and Departments against a predetermined range of products and levels agreed with the budget holder. This benefits patients by having the right product in the right place and freeing up clinical time to be spent providing patient care. During Melloney’s visit she had the pleasure of meeting the longest serving member of the team, Angela Hunter, with 33 years’ service and also had a very informative and interesting tour of the Supplies room, thank you to Paul Allen - Deputy Supply Chain Manager.
Melloney Poole OBE, Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, surprised the Catering Departing at Queen Alexandra Hospital on Thursday 29th March 2018 by presenting the team with a ‘Hidden Heroes’ certificate and two big baskets of fruit to thank them and show her appreciation for all they do. Melloney was interested to hear that there are 20 staff in the catering department all of which have worked there for many years; with the newest team member Jackie Carter, joining over 13 years ago! The longest serving member of the team is Terry Mitchell who has served an amazing 45 years and 4 months! Melloney wanted to visit the Catering Team to hear how they had dealt with a particular situation.
On Monday 15th January at 7am it was announced Carillion had gone into insolvency. The sandwich supplier, upon hearing the news ceased any production that day for Carillion accounts. The Catering team developed a contingency plan and extra bread and fillings were made ready on the Monday for a team of volunteers to make 1500 sandwiches early on the Tuesday morning. The volunteers were from the kitchen team, administration staff and managers. They assembled in the salad preparation area and formed a production line with some staff spreading, some filling and others wrapping sandwiches. Melloney praised their fantastic efforts and was very grateful how everyone pulled together during a challenging time to ensure that patients and staff did not suffer any detriment. During Melloney’ s visit, Carillion managers were informed that a helicopter was coming in for landing, when this happens Carillion staff attend the helipad to ensure its safe arrival. Melloney was extremely pleased to be invited to the helipad to watch the incoming helicopter, meet the pilot and discover how hard they work looking after our patients. Melloney would like to extend a big thank you to Stuart Burnham from Carillion and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance team for this experience.
In February Melloney visited and spent some time with the Radiography Department Assistants and Assistant Practitioners in the Breast Screening Department. This small team are the first line of support for patients in the clinic rooms, are invaluable to the overall team and are an integral part of both the Breast Screening and Symptomatic Service. The Radiography Department Assistant’s work alongside the doctors, support the radiographers, as well as carry out admin duties and tasks to ensure the smooth running of clinics. The Advanced Practitioners support the professionally registered radiographic workforce with the provision of routine mammography and are also required to act as cover for the RDA team. The team are always professional, cheerful and efficient and rarely grumble about the work. Melloney was pleased to meet and talk with Rachel Comlay who joined the department in May 2017 and with Dr Jonathan Nash who is the Director of Breast Screening. Melloney was pleased to thank the Breast Screening Team and recognise them as Hidden Heroes by presenting a certificate and a basket of fruit. Jo Helsdon, Programme Manager for Breast Screening said “This team truly they are our Department’s ‘Hidden Heroes’ and it would be fantastic for them to be recognised in this way”.
In January Melloney visited and spent some time with the Switchboard Team who are based behind the Main Reception Desk on A level in the Queen Alexandra Hospital. This team of 21 colleagues are Portsmouth Hospitals staff, part of the Facilitates Management Team and are managed by Julie Taylor. Melloney was delighted to hear how the team are the first point of call for our hospital and thrive in challenging and emergency situations as well as how they enjoy assisting others to the best of their abilities; always with empathy in sensitive situations. Melloney was particularly impressed with their hard work and the huge variety of tasks they undertook with efficiency and calm every day. Melloney was surprised and saddened to hear that on occasion our own colleagues were not as polite and respectful to members of the Switchboard team as she would have expected. She was reminded of our own Trust Value of Respect and Dignity and that we are all in the same team. Melloney was pleased to thank the Switchboard Team and recognise them as Hidden Heroes by presenting a certificate and two baskets of fruit.
