A physiotherapist has won a prestigious outstanding contribution award, in recognition of her inspirational and vital work during the Covid-19 crisis.
Cordy Gaubert, who works as a clinical specialist physiotherapist at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, was named the overall winner at the Our Health Heroes Awards yesterday.
She triumphed in a public vote to take home the ‘gold’ prize in the Outstanding Contribution category of the awards, which had more than 470 nominees.
Michelle Wayt, assistant director at NHS Employers, presented the top prize and said: ‘Chosen from hundreds of nominees, Cordy stands out as a true role model and a credit to the NHS.
Her remarkable efforts, commitment, and passion for her work is what makes her so deserving of this award
This is an incredible achievement to celebrate and relish in, you should be so, so proud.’
Healthcare professionals submitted more than 600 nominations across nine categories in the awards and the online ceremony, which was organised by Skills for Health, was attended by both health sector and government leaders, and more than 300 NHS and social care staff.
Collaborating to meet unprecedented challenges
Commenting on her win, Ms Gaubert said: ‘To win this national trophy means a huge amount to me personally but is also a reflection of many people's hard work and the collaboration between multi-professional teams.
‘I am very lucky to work with such brilliant, supportive, and innovative colleagues within our therapy department and on critical care.
This year has been the most challenging of my career, both physically and emotionally, but it has also demonstrated to me the incredible human resilience of my physiotherapy, nursing and medical colleagues, and also of our patients.
Working tirelessly
The judges praised Ms Gaubert for her efforts since the start of the pandemic, describing how she had ‘worked tirelessly’ alongside her medical colleagues, to implement changes in service and accommodate vast numbers of Covid-19 hospital patients.
Throughout the last 12 months, in her role as lead intensive care unit (ICU) physiotherapist, her nominators said she had worked above and beyond her contracted hours, ensuring appropriate equipment was available to meet the needs of patients.
She has also been involved in many hours of checking and using Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machines, to allow patients to be treated, and to ensure there were adequate oxygen supplies.
Unifying pathways of care
Over the last year, Ms Gaubert has also offered unrelenting support to the wider multidisciplinary team within ICU and neuro physiotherapy, providing respiratory teaching to the huge numbers of staff who were redeployed to the medical wards, and working closely with those picking up discharged ICU patients.
And, even while at home, she developed pathways of care to try and prevent complications among long-stay ICU patients, effectively bringing respiratory, musculoskeletal, and neuro-physiotherapy teams together in a unified way.
In addition, her nominators said, Ms Gaubert showed great compassion for her patients and treated them with a seemingly endless energy.
She was described as ‘always happy and keen to share her knowledge and learning about her experiences with patients with peers and wanting to hear back in return.’
An inspirational physio
Nicola Sheehan, head of therapies at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: ‘We are extremely proud that Cordy was nominated for this award.
‘She is an inspirational physiotherapist who goes over and above in the care and support of her patients and her team.
‘Covid-19 has brought many challenges for health services, patients, and staff, and Cordy truly has made an outstanding contribution in the ongoing fight against this disease.’
Cordy is an unassuming force to be reckoned with and throughout the pandemic has led a uniformed endeavour where clinicians felt supported, patient care has been excellent, and services have developed for good
The annual Our Health Heroes awards, which is now in its fifth year, aims to shine a light on the extraordinary efforts of thousands of healthcare support staff who work hard behind the scenes to keep the system running.
This year's awards were delivered, in partnership with Skills for Health, with the help of NHS Employers, UNISON, SFJ Awards and Bevan Brittan.
To watch the ceremony on demand click here
Number of subscribers: 2
Log in to comment and read comments that have been added