Staff who keep Horton General Hospital running 'proud' to scoop national award

The Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s estates and facilities team won the Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management Award for Estates Team of the Year.

Employees across all of the trust’s sites were recognised but the Horton staff played a major part in the success with all work being done in-house.

Horton facilities manager Denise Pawley said: “We’re so proud, along with the estates team, they’re all wonderful, a lot of them have been here a long time, some since 1993 and others have joined this year.

“Getting this award has hopefully boosted morale and they all work so intrinsically as a team.”

The awards were presented at a ceremony hosted by ex-footballer Jan Mølby at the Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel in central Manchester on October 9.

The estates and facilities team has been behind several major projects including replacing the air handling units at the Horton, as well as the day-to-day running of the hospital.

Estates manager Keith Byrom added it is great for the Horton staff to be recognised as it is a community with most employees being from Banbury.

Denise added: “Within a short space of time hospitals would just collapse if the support staff are not there.”

Across the trust, the team dealt with 29,113 helpdesk calls, handled 14.6m pieces of laundry, and maintained 73.8 hectares of land last year.

There have also been several environmental initiatives, including the implementation of reusable coffee cups and water bottles, which saves approximately 16,000 bags of single-use cups going to waste.

The team processed 2,208 tonnes of recycling last year, which meant that no waste went to landfill and the trust saved approximately 591,229kg of CO2 and 2,502 trees.

laire Hennessy, head of operational estates and facilities at the trust, said: "I am so pleased and proud. This is superb recognition for our fantastic teams in Oxford and Banbury who work so hard to keep our hospitals and services going.

"Often, the projects we work on require very long days and sometimes very unsociable hours - last winter, members of our team were working around the clock to sweep, grit, and clear snow, as well as hiring 4x4 vehicles to take clinical staff to and from work.

"Their work really meant that the hospitals could keep going - nothing was too big or too small for them.

"IHEEM's annual Healthcare Estates Conference and Awards is unique, as it's the largest gathering of NHS engineers and estates and facilities managers, and the exchange of ideas and experiences is always very rewarding.

"Although, I don't doubt that, for some, the real highlight may have been the selfies and long conversation with Jan before dinner!"