Every month, we take a moment to celebrate the amazing people at NBT who go the extra mile—not because they have to, but because they care. The NBT Hero Awards are all about recognising those quiet acts of kindness, the thoughtful gestures, and the unwavering commitment to our values: caring, ambitious, respectful, and supportive.
Our June winners were nominated by their colleagues or by patients who wanted to share just how much a staff member’s actions meant to them. Often, these heroes don’t even realise the impact they’ve had—but to someone else, it made all the difference.
To say thank you, we invited them for coffee and cake, where they got to meet fellow heroes and hear from Chief Nursing Officer Steve Hams about the special reasons they were nominated. It was a lovely moment to pause, reflect, and celebrate the heart of NBT.
Scroll down to read the inspiring stories of our June Heroes.
Georgia Clarke (Mental Health Nurse - Specialist Practitioner) Nominated by: Kate Mann
The staff on Gate 8a would like to nominate Georgia for an NBT award for being so supportive to our team when managing some very complex patients on the Ward. We have recently had two eating disorder patients who have required a huge amount of enhanced care, Georgia is always available to lend a hand both practically and psychologically if needed and without her input the ward team would feel much less supported. Georgia is often faced with huge challenges when supporting our patients yet is always calm, professional, firm yet kind and this doesn’t go unnoticed by our team. She present patients weekly at the STEPS meeting with clarity and always maintains the patient best interests at heart, she really does go over and beyond to support the ward, the patients and her colleagues and for that she should be recognised as a Mental Health NBT hero. Thank you, Georgia.
Leslie Mansel (Equality and diversity manager) Nominated by: Steph Williamson
Lesley has always worked really hard at her position to be a role model for inclusivity. She always keeps up contact with the neurodiversity network of staff and ensures we have visibility of opportunities and events. Thanks to her support and encouragement, I've been able to step up and support my fellow neurodiverse colleagues by managing the WhatsApp group. Lesley always advocates for us and, importantly, gives us space and tools to advocate for ourselves. She's also done great work on the neurodiverse toolkit for managers.
George Theobald (senior radiology trainee) Nominated by: Isabel Laurence
Dr George Theobald is an all-round excellent radiology trainee who is always willing to go the extra mile for a patient, colleague, his team or NBT. He has shown this on two of his recent shifts when the overnight radiology outsourcing failed. During the hours midnight-8am scan reports are usually outsourced to an external company which allows the NBT Consultant radiologists on call to rest, so they can perform a full day’s work before and after the night shift. This is usually reliable, but on 2 occasions recently there was a technical problem during George's late shift. Without complaining, George took remained at work overnight on both occasions, single handedly taking responsibility for all the overnight image reporting. This meant that the management of no A+E or inpatient who required an urgent over scan was compromised. He communicated with the radiographers, site manager and clinical teams to ensure essential patient imaging continued. His use of initiative, dedication and hard work should earn him the title of NBT hero.
Laura Webb (Support Manager) Nominated by: Tania Taveira
IR recovery when open for escalation of inpatients manages a diverse range of patient cases from various specialties. Occasionally, we receive patients with complex needs requiring multiple specialist assessments. When Laura is the SPOC for medicine and I find it challenging to support medicine inpatients, she is consistently proactive in assisting me to find solutions and provide answers. She maintains a positive attitude and approaches each case with professionalism and dedication. We would benefit from having more team members like Laura within the trust to foster professionalism and enhance productivity. Thank you, Laura, for being a source of support when I don't have answers.
Bethany Ward (Infection Control Nurse) Nominated by: Sarah Wheatley
Beth is an Infection control nurse who really makes a difference in IPC, her focus on quality and patient care is exceptional, she supports both clinicians and patients daily with a kind and friendly manner. Beth supports ASCCR within her role and always looks at solution-based responses she a great ability bring staff with her on a journey when she is educating others or drumming up support for trials or looking at new evidenced based practice. Beth always puts the patient first and seeks the best solution when she is investigating cases and uses her recent studies in IPC to enhance her skills and teach others. With in the team, she is our wellbeing champion and always checks in on others and passed lots of information on to those who she works with, with great energy and enthusiasm - Beth really is one in a million.
Ayesha Holland (Physiotherapist) Nominated by Lisa Nikitin
Ayesha is a valued member of the neuropsychiatry and neurology team and is so caring and compassionate to her patients and her colleagues. She is always going the extra mile and thinking outside the box to provide person-centred care. Thank you, Ayesha, we will miss you when your rotation ends!
Sheril Cadette (Clinical Skills Facilitator) Nominated by: Hannah Britton
The Clinical Skills Team (CST) have gone above and beyond in supporting our colleagues at UHBW, part of our new hospital working group, to develop knowledge and skills in bowel care. The team have travelled to Weston Hospital and the BRI over several days to provide training to staff in providing safe, person-centred bowel care to two different patients with spinal injuries. The first patient was unable to return from NBT to their local hospital (Weston) following a spinal injury as UHBW do not have a staff bowel care training programme and this patient required a bowel care regime. Our CST organised access to our NBT bowel care e-Learning and travelled to Weston to train staff and support the patients transfer back to their local hospital to be closer to their loved ones. The second patient was receiving care at the BRI where staff were unable to complete their already established bowel care regime for their spinal injury as they hadn’t received training. Our CST again arranged educational resources, travelled to BRI to meet the patient and provided bespoke bowel care training to UHBW staff. Our CST continue to work with UHBW and have provided them with e-Learning resources, policies and lesson plans and have planned train-the-trainer sessions for UHBW’s education team to support them in developing educational bowel care programmes. This is an excellent example of working ambitiously across organisational boundaries, building supportive relationships with wider colleagues, and ensuring patients remain at the centre of all we do.
Karen Webley (Medical Secretary) Nominated by: Kelly Thompson
This nomination is in recognition of Karen ‘s constant hard work and unwavering dedication to her role and to her team. Karen is always ready to do her best to help her colleagues with a professional and friendly attitude and is always willing to go the extra mile to make sure everything runs smoothly, regardless of her situation. Her most important priority is the wellbeing of the patients and making sure they get the best possible care they need. Karen is an exceptional leader whose integrity and values are a great example of what our trust represents. Your hard work, day in and day out, doesn’t go unnoticed. Thank you for your consistent efforts.
Rosemarie Stapenell (Trainee Nursing Associate) Nominated by: Jessica Gray
Rosie went with her nurse’s "intuition" when we had a patient who had been assessed at the end of the night shift for a potential stroke and had been assessed as this not being the case at that time. She felt that "something wasn't right" despite not having a baseline comparison for this patient having never met her before and the recent assessment appearing NAD. She escalated to the Band 6 who agreed, and this initiated the stroke team to be called and an urgent CT head. This showed the patient had had a bleed on the brain, was given urgent IV medication and moved to the stroke ward to get the care she needed. Well done Rosie for having the confidence to advocate for your patients when there is doubt! Very proud of you.
Tina Fisher (Sister) Nominated by Siby Stephen
I would like to nominate Tina for the NBT hero award in recognition of their outstanding dedication, clinical expertise, and compassionate leadership within the South Bristol Dialysis Unit. As a band 6 renal nurse Tina consistently goes above and beyond to ensure safe, high-quality care for patients undergoing complex dialysis treatment. Their calm and reassuring presence has made a significant impact on both patients and staff. Tina is highly skilled in in managing emergencies with confidence and clinical precision. Tina is a trusted mentor to junior staff always taking time to support learning and sharing knowledge, which enhances team capability and patient safety. Tina has also taken on the role of giving the Hep B vaccines to patients,' ensuring they understand Hep B and are given the choice to have the vaccine.