The Hospital Caterers Association (HCA), recognised the work and commitment of hospital caterers across four nations at the awards ceremony during its annual Leadership and Development Forum last night (March 30) in Liverpool.
Eight awards were presented including Caterer of the Year, Catering Team of the Year, Efficiency and Improvement Award (sponsored by HEFMA), Special Contribution Award, The Wilma Wilkie Outstanding Service Award, Chairman’s Award and new for 2022 a Rising Star Award and a Leadership and Excellence Award.
The award judging panel consisted of the HCA President The Rt Hon Lord Hunt of Kings Heath PC OBE, Vice Presidents Mark Hayman, Alison McCree and National Chairman Brian Robb who comments: “These awards publicly acknowledge the exceptional commitment and outstanding contributions from our members. All of whom have been nominated for demonstrating excellence and innovation over the past 12 months. I wish to thank and congratulate all the winners and finalists for their amazing work and perseverance during this extremely difficult time.”
Caterer of the Year, sponsored by Hobart UK
The HCA Caterer of the Year was awarded to Tim Radcliffe, Facilities Manager of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (North West HCA Branch).
Tim won this award as a recognition and celebration of the significant contribution he made to the wellbeing and recovery of his patients, the patient experience and to the staff and visitors who use his services.
Prior to his current appointment, Tim was a hospitality specialist with experience in managing catering provision for private restaurants, the armed forces and the BBC. He took over an underperforming service with disappointing food hygiene, PLACE (Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment) and Care Quality Commission inspections. He developed and delivered clear and coherent plans and strategies for progression from the introductory stages of his new regime.
Since joining the HCA in 2019, Tim has played an active and vocal role in his branch, and he moved into a branch representative role, which encouraged him to look beyond his own Trust. He now supports his culinary colleagues through his position leading an Exemplar Site, as a pioneering member of the national Expert Group, and as the lead member of the local ICS Catering sub-group. In 2021 the first national NHS Chef of the Year competition was held, which Tim’s team won. Both winning chefs had been recruited by Tim as he recognised their broader skill-base would benefit not only patients and restaurant customers but also their colleagues in bringing fresh ideas, skills and knowledge into an established NHS catering service.
Catering Team of the Year 2022, sponsored by Rational
The HCA Catering Team of the Year was awarded to Causeway Hospital, Northern Trust (Northern Ireland Branch).
The team won the award for providing patient services showing improvements in patient experience, showing the focus and delivery of the ‘Last 9 Yards’, collaborative working with the ‘Power of 3’ and driving fundamental positive change.
During the pandemic, Causeway Hospital remodelled the Emergency Department mealtime service providing a complete food service, delivering full menu choice to all their patients on arrival. They recognised their part to play with customers and staff, so remodelled their coffee shop providing a totally new level of quality service by delivering a barista high street experience, Courtyard Bothy experience, and a new outdoor retail outlet, delivering a Christmas market feel, serving such delights as mocktail mulled wine and delicious warming soups such as curried parsnip and apple. This offer was further enhanced with their walking lunch initiative, which encouraged people to come and get a cup of soup or homemade pizza cooked to order in their pizza oven from the Courtyard Bothy, and go for a walk along one of many pathways within the grounds.
Efficiency and Improvement Award, sponsored by HEFMA
The HCA Efficiency and Improvement Award was awarded to Stewart Nimmo for the Catering Team at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kings Lynn NHS Foundation Trust (East Anglia Branch).
Stewart demonstrated how his team had introduced a new idea which helped to improve catering services to patients or retail, and which delivered service improvement and improved efficiency and productivity.
The catering team at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kings Lynn has a proven track record on being inventive and always delivering at every opportunity. Catering is in-house and cooked fresh on the day. During the pandemic they implemented in the Trust an electronic meal ordering system which was a change in the delivery system and a new heated meal trolley. They also received more funds for an Anaerobic Food Digester which meant the need for bins with a contracted collection was no longer required. This required staff to change their practice and face another challenge during a difficult time.
Special Contribution Award, sponsored by HCA
The HCA Special Contribution Award was awarded to Margaret Valenti (West of Scotland Branch).
Margaret won this award due for having performed a role that has had a significant influence on the provision of services in one or more areas of the catering sector.
Margaret joined the Branch in 2017 and went on to become Branch Secretary in 2020. Her dedication and commitment were further demonstrated during the pandemic when she supported the Branch by compiling blogs as a means of communication during the initial lock down period.
A total of 47 blogs were submitted and compiled over 14 editions which were sent out to all HCA branch members, associates, and extended friends within the hospital catering industry. The Branch Blogs brought cheer to many during such difficult times and they quickly became very popular. These blogs have been compiled into a printed booklet for HCA posterity and Branch history, which were issued to the President, Vice-Presidents, National Officers and branches at the Leadership & Development Forum 2022.
Rising Star Award, sponsored by HCA
The HCA Rising Star Award was awarded to Shane O’Neill, Assistant Patient Experience Manager, Lagan Hospital (Northern Ireland Branch).
Shane won this new award showing impressive dedication and commitment to furthering themselves and supporting the work of hospital catering, whilst demonstrating Association values, and showing outstanding dedication and commitment.
Shane began his career with South Eastern H&SC Trust in 1999 as a cook and worked through various positions to his current role in 2020. He has been proactively engaging with patients, listening to patient feedback and leading with implementing these changes whilst also developing relationships with Allied Health Professionals within the hospital and sharing findings with his colleagues. These interactions and relationships are crucial to Shane as he wanted to improve the mealtime experience for patients within the hospital. An example of this was soup for lunch, which is now freshly made every day for patients. He developed a vegan two-week menu with the Lead Dietitian, which involved working longer hours and weekends with cooks to get recipes correct. His dedication meant that the project was achieved ahead of time.
The vegan menu was initially devised to comply with Minimum Nutritional Standards for staff catering and implemented into the patient menu as feedback on all dishes was excellent. These menus were shared at a regional meeting within Northern Ireland with the view to being adopted in not only health care but in school meals catering.
Leadership & Excellence Award, sponsored by HCA
The HCA Leadership & Excellence Award was awarded to Joe Gilbey – Retail Lead, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Health Board (West of Scotland Branch).
Joe was awarded this accolade for demonstrating exceptional leadership skills and excelling at mentoring and teaching, whilst sharing knowledge and expertise with students, junior members of staff and/or colleagues, encouraging and motivating them to reach their full potential.
Joe has worked through the ranks to his current position in the largest Health Board, and his achievements in recent times have included achieving Breakeven Position in non-patient catering from a £2.2m deficit, feeding 400 dignitaries on the occasion of the Queen’s visit to QEUH, organising free fresh food vending services across sites for staff who are working out of hours at four major hospital sites, and ensuring that staff working out of hours have access to a hot meal. The on-site vending machine facilities include sandwiches, salads, hot and cold meals, hot and cold drinks, snacks, confectionery and ice cream/sorbets. All items met the criteria of the Healthy Living Award.
Chairman’s Choice, sponsored by HCA
The HCA chairman’s choice award was awarded to the Northern Ireland Branch.
The Branch successfully demonstrated that during the past 12 months their minutes of meetings and treasurers accounts are submitted, they hold regular Branch meetings, have education, training and social events and undertake recruitment and retention of Members. There were a number of really strong applications, with educational and training at the heart of the branch programmes, and with excellent membership engagement.
In 2021, the Branch recognised its role in supporting and linking members during the difficult task of managing catering services throughout a pandemic. To this end, Branch officers developed innovative ways of maintaining contact with members, within the constraints of virtual and remote connection, to keep them interested and engaged. These included a live streamed hospital visit tour and mindfulness sessions. A number of members are involved in Association working groups.
Wilma Wilkie Outstanding Service Award 2022, sponsored by HCA
The Wilma Wilkie Outstanding Service Award was awarded to Stewart McKenzie (West of Scotland Branch).
Stewart won the HCA’s most prestigious award for his many years of dedicated service to the NHS, his numerous achievements and by demonstrating his significant contribution to the Association locally or nationally.
He is a long-time Association member, retiring in March 2022 from NHS Glasgow and Clyde Health Board after 40 years of service, latterly as Head of FM Operations – North Sector, based at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
He is a recent National Chair, and was the main spokesperson during the Listeria crisis, appearing on many multi-national media outlets. A key feature of his professional career has been his ability to consistently bring proven quantifiable and lasting success to each and every post. He has been totally committed to hospital catering and has always worked to improving standards and training of staff, giving managers the tools to do their jobs properly, and training and developing staff. This was evident during his chairmanship, where he was instrumental in partnering with the Institute of Hospitality and the National Association of Care Catering, launching a Level 2 Award in Professional Cookery in Health and Social Care. The qualification offers the opportunity to extend knowledge and skills for caterers, complementing existing cookery qualifications.
Congratulations to all of the winners.
Pictured: Stewart McKenzie receiving his award from Mark Hayman (HCA Vice-President, left) and Brian Robb (National Chair, right).
