At last night’s celebration dinner during the annual Leadership and Development Forum, the Hospital Caterers Association (HCA) announced the winners of its prestigious annual awards.
These awards publicly acknowledge exceptional commitment and outstanding contributions from HCA members who have been nominated for demonstrating excellence and innovation in the chosen category over the past 12 months. The judging panel consisted of HCA’s President The Rt Hon Lord Hunt of Kings Heath PC OBE, Vice Presidents Mark Hayman and Alison McCree, with National Chairman Brian Robb. The panel were impressed with the calibre of applications.
Caterer of the Year 2023, sponsored by Hobart UK
Presented in recognition and celebration of the significant contribution the member has made to the wellbeing and recovery of the patient, the patient experience and to the staff and visitors who use their services, Andrea Raymond, Operations Manager- Catering Services Northamptonshire Healthcare Danetre Hospital (Oxford Branch) was named Caterer of the Year.
Andrea is a hardworking and very diligent Catering Manager. She runs seven community hospitals and has achieved an impressive series of quality improvements for patients and staff, across the patient food provision with new meals and menus, standard recipes and photographic specification of how each meal should be served. She is constantly reviewing services, a major example of which is the introduction of the MenuMark electronic stock system with patient meal ordering to be installed at all seven hospital sites. Other initiatives include a three-month promotion to remind staff to ‘Take a break’ by offering a free KitKat when a purchase was made in the café. ‘Free Fruit Friday’ is an offer across all café sites in collaboration with the Wellbeing Team.
Finalists/Runners up:
• David Smyth, Catering Production Manager, Antrim Area Hospital, Northern Health and Social Care Trust
• Robert Wright, Catering and Domestic Services Manager, Northern Health & Social Care Trust
• Matthew McCullough, Interim Community Support Services Catering Manager, Holywell Hospital, Antrim
• Duncan O’Neill, Support Services Manager Catering, Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust
• Iain Clarke, Deputy Trust Catering Manager, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals.
Catering Team of the Year 2023
This award is given to a Catering Service Team providing patient services to an NHS Trust, where one person must be a full member of the Association. It recognises effective teamwork and collaboration, personal and professional development of team members and delivery of high-quality catering. The winner was Stuart Wray, Head of Catering, Darlington Memorial Hospital (Northern Branch).
The Catering team at Darlington Memorial Hospital are high performing and committed to producing and serving safe, appetising, nourishing, flavour-packed and well balanced meals and beverages, for patients, staff and visitors.
Every member of the team is committed to the service principles, which they have played a part in developing. These include:
• Meet and exceed the expectations of patients and customer
• Deliver high quality services within the agreed financial framework
• Involve patients and customers in shaping service delivery
• Constantly strive to improve defined quality standards
• Improve efficiency in all areas of activities
• Provide staff with effective and professional leadership
• Recognise and respect the contribution of individuals to the delivery of services.
In recognition of the standards of service the catering department was named as one of the original 15 exemplar sites across England in 2021 as part of the Independent Review of NHS Hospital Food. The catering service has made a significant contribution to the new food standards and has shared templates and matrices with other NHS organisations to help them undertake a gap analysis against the standards.
Finalists/Runners up:
• David Smyth, Catering Production Manager, Antrim Area Hospital, Northern Health and Social Care Trust
• Duncan O’Neill & Stephen Whitehead, Support Services Manager Catering & Head of Facilities, Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust
• DSFS Patient Catering Team, Chesterfield Royal Hospital Foundation Trust
• Elaine Pringle, Catering Service Lead, Ulster Hospital
• Salford Royal Retail Team, Forty Eight Bakehouse Deli and Dine.
Efficiency & Improvement Award, sponsored by HEFMA
This award recognises success in the introduction of a new idea, or 24/7 365 development which demonstrated improvements to the catering service for patients or within retail, improved efficiency and productivity. The winner was Karen McLaughlin, General Manager for Catering and Domestic Services Trustwide, Northern Trust (Northern Ireland Branch).
Karen was instrumental in introducing the safety pause, which identifies shared responsibility between those preparing and serving the meals and those responsible for the patient’s care. The safety pause brings swallowing and allergens to the forefront of everyone's mind, just before the service of all food or beverages. RQIA (Northern Ireland's equivalent of CQC) recognised the value of this when it was doing a regional audit of management of those with swallowing difficulties, and saw how beneficial it was to patient safety. It has made it one of the recommendations issued as result of the audit, so ensuring the safety of all patients in Northern Ireland.
Finalists/Runners up:
• Howard Cartledge & Louise Simpson, Head of Catering & Associate Director of Nursing, Estates, Facilities & Capital Development, Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust
• Duncan O’Neill, Support Services Manager Catering, Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust
• Michelle O’Connor, Catering Manager, Altnagevin Hospital, Glenshane Road, Derry
• Marcel Dueren, Catering Central Production Manager, St Thomas’ Hospital.
Rising Star Award
This award recognises a member who, in the course of his or her work has shown impressive dedication and commitment to furthering themselves and supporting the work of hospital catering. This year’s recipient was Kush Naik, Senior Catering Dietitian, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (Trent Branch).
Kush displays all the values expected of a service leader in waiting. She has great enthusiasm for all things food, extending her remit involvement with all catering projects and services. Kush is a very engaging individual and has an easy style, a free speaker which draws in colleagues. A good listener, Kush can draw upon concepts and grow them into practical solutions.
Generous of nature and spirit, Kush has glowing inner radiance and is very caring. She is captivating and has a genuine passion and interest in what she does. So much so, people feed off her enthusiasm.
Finalists/Runners up:
• Amanda Vickery, Catering Business Support Officer/Assistant Facilities Manager, Musgrove Park Hospital
• Shirley Allison, Catering/Domestic Services Manager, Holywell Hospital
• Margaret Valenti, Catering Business Support Manager, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
• Shelley Pearson Smith, Assistant Head Chef, Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust.
Leadership & Excellence Award
Recognising the work of a member who demonstrates exceptional leadership skills and excels at mentoring, teaching and sharing their knowledge with others, this award was presented to Clodagh Hastings, Assistant Support Service Manager, Gransha Hospital, Western Trust (Northern Ireland Branch).
Clodagh is selfless to a fault, and regularly goes above and beyond. She works hard, demonstrates great dedication and appears unaware of her own worth and because she is unaware of the level of respect that she receives from her teammates. Clodagh may have one of the most stressful jobs on the site but she masks it so that she can keep her own team motivated. Clodagh lives by a problem-solving dictum, which when working with a team means everyone accomplishes much more than they could do on their own.
Finalists/Runners up:
• Linda Saunders, Assistant Manager, Corporate Support Services, Whiteabbey Hospital, Moyle Hospital and Carrickfergus and Larne Community Diagnostic Team
• Karoline Rowlands, Facilities Manager, Southmead Hospital
• Kevin Westrip, General Manager, NH Foundation Trust.
Chairman’s Choice
Holding regular Branch meetings, hosting education, training and social events, and proactively undertaking recruitment and retention of members are among the criteria for the Branch award. It was a difficult choice, and the Chair decided to award it to the Branch that had really looked at the membership and how they could be supported. The winner was West of Scotland Branch.
In 2022/23 the Branch recognised its role in supporting and linking members throughout the pandemic, hosting virtual meetings and combating rural settings. Having had to postpone its Branch Study Day and Burns supper events, in 2023 these came back even bigger and better. A number of members are involved in Association working groups.
Finalists/Runners up:
• Oxford
• South West.
Wilma Wilkie Outstanding Service Award
This is the HCA’s most prestigious award, and its recipient must have given many years of dedicated service to the NHS, and demonstrate a significant contribution to the association locally or nationally. The winner was Carol Birch, Associate Director of Facilities, (Northern Branch).
Carol’s career has spanned over four decades. She joined the NHS in 1983 as an Assistant Cook and has been a HCA member for over 25 years, holding Branch, National and Conference roles.
Carol is a decisive, compassionate and inclusive leader. She consistently demonstrates initiative, and has a good sense of humour, being outgoing and fun to work with, approachable and confident.
During her career, Carol has gained extensive experience of managing NHS catering services alongside the whole range of estates and facilities services at both an operational and strategic level. She consistently demonstrates that she has a good grasp of the existing methods of delivery, but is not being afraid of suggesting the unthinkable, with the aim of improving services. A further quality Carol has in abundance is her tenacity to address difficult challenges, which many others would turn away from, and more importantly she is always willing to share the learning from those experiences be they good or bad. Carol’s relevant and present-day knowledge and experience gained from working within the NHS along with her passion, integrity, personal commitment and tenacity is of great benefit to the ongoing success of the services she leads, the HCA and the wider NHS.
The role Carol played in winning a bid from the private sector in a recent market testing situation was outstanding and demonstrates her commitment, tenacity and standard of work. Even though Carol is in her fourth decade of working life she still has the energy and motivation to deliver service change with the passion and commitment often only seen in those newly appointed in their roles and keen to make a difference/improvement.
Trade Stand
Judging for the Trade Stand award took place during the opening morning of the exhibition and Ramco UK was announced as the winner.
Special Contribution Award
Recognising a person or organisation who is not directly involved in providing catering services but has performed a role that has had a significant influence on the provision of catering services, the Special Contribution Award went to National Vice President Mark Hayman.
Mark has been a member for over 45 years, and has held many Branch and National positions, including National Chair and National Secretary. He retired from the NHS in December 2016, after an illustrious 40 year career which began - in catering - in 1976. He reached the position of Estates Director in the Kent Healthcare system, and has also held roles in facilities, contracting and purchasing. He worked on business cases for ‘collaborative procurement hubs’ and became involved with healthcare commissioning procurement as Primary Care Trusts took up the mantle of ‘World Class Commissioning’ to drive improvements within the provider landscape.
The HCA is extremely fortunate to have benefited from Mark’s knowledge and experience. He has provided leadership and support throughout the term of many National Chairs, specifically in recently years as the association went through the transition to company status.
Pictured: Kay Mulcahy, National Chair of HEFMA, presenting the Efficiency & Improvement Award to Karen McLaughlin with Lord Hunt, HCA President (left) and Brain Robb, HCA National Chair (right)
