ANEURIN Bevan University Health Board held its sixth staff recognition awards ceremony on Friday 16th December at the Christchurch Centre in Newport. 

More than 300 members of staff attended the event that celebrated the achievements of staff from across the health board.

The event was hosted by health board chair David Jenkins and Judith Paget, chief executive.

Judith said: “It’s a privilege to be hosting the awards as your chief executive. I’m delighted with the response to the nominations for the awards and I’m pleased to introduce a new category of ‘Living our Values’.

“We recognise that these awards are just a snap shot of the excellent work being undertaken by our staff every day.”

Some of the recipients whose work helped the people of Monmouthshire included the ‘living well living longer team’ which received the health and wellbeing award.

The team delivered pioneering health checks and health messages across the Aneurin Bevan community.

Among other achievements, the team identified more than 2,000 people that have unknown health issues for referral to their GP and made more than 700 referrals to partner agencies for stop smoking support, smashing the target by over 25 per cent.

The chairman’s award was given to Welsh Language Officer Rhiannon Davies.

Rhiannon worked tirelessly with the Primary Care Division to ensure the needs of people whose first language is Welsh is met.

She was deemed to have gone over and above her role duties extending her services to both the independent sector and to the community through her engagement in the ‘Prescription for Loneliness’ initiative.

The chief executive’s award was awarded to Jackie Austin, consultant nurse for Heart Failure and Cardiac Rehabilitation Services.

Jacqui leads the Cardiac rehabilitation and Heart Failure Service across Aneurin Bevan.  She is a leader who encouraged her team to strive for excellence and celebrating team successes along the way.

She encouraged team development with a passion for improvement and always putting the patient first.

Her work with the team led to the service achieving British Association of Cardiac Prevention and Rehabilitation.

Jacqui also influenced at national level and supports networking and bench marking across other cardiac communities in Wales and the UK.