Duo rewarded for raising awareness of dementia

Lesley Mort, Interim Accountable Officer presents Fozia Waseem and Shabnam Sardar with their Going for Gold Stars award along with nominator Karen Hurley

Two members of NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale’s (HMR) staff were selected as the winners of the Trust’s most recent Going for Gold Stars awards.

Fozia Waseem, Commissioning Project Manager, Mental Health and Learning Disabilities/Dementia Lead and Shabnam Sardar, Public Health Manager – Wellbeing won the award for their excellent contribution to National Dementia Week (20 – 26 May 2012).

Within a very short timescale they organised a huge free event on the Butts in Rochdale town centre with stalls, entertainment and information. Over 1000 people from across the borough attended on the day, learning not only about dementia, but also other health and wellbeing information/services.

Karen Hurley, Interim Head of Operations and Engagement who nominated Fozia and Shabnam said: “The actions of Fozia and Shabnam made a significant difference to members of the public, patients and staff, providing information and advice which they may otherwise not have known, as well as promoting awareness of and reducing the stigma associated with mental health and dementia.”

On winning the award Fozia said: “I would like to thank Karen who has supported me with the work on dementia for the borough and helped to give it the focus and attention that it requires. It’s wonderful to be nominated and I really appreciate the acknowledgement.”

Shabnam added: “It was a lovely surprise to find out I had won the Going for Gold Stars Award, I feel really privileged to know that Karen had taken the time to nominate me, but more importantly to support us on the day. I would also like to take this opportunity to say a big thanks to Karen for her continuous encouragement, and guidance as a manager."

Going for Gold Stars is a quarterly awards scheme that has been developed by NHS HMR to recognise staff who provide an outstanding service or go the extra mile. The awards are nominated and judged by staff working within the Trust.