Clipstone fundraiser nominated for prestigious hospital award

Clare Harris, who runs the Emily Harris Foundation, has been shortlisted in the community heroes category of the Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust 2023 excellence awards.

A spokesman for the trust, which runs Mansfield Community, Sutton’s King’s Mill and Newark hospitals, said: “The aim of the awards is to shine a light on the amazing commitment individuals and teams make to Sherwood Forest Hospitals and the positive impact they have on services, patients, visitors and colleagues.”

The community heroes award acknowledges people living and working within the community ‘who help to make a positive difference’.

Clare, from Clipstone, has helped raise more than £250,000 for the neonatal unit at King’s Mill since founding the charity with her husband, Neil, in 2008, to thank the unit for the support and care their first daughter Emily, who passed away at just five months old from a heart condition, received.

Also shortlisted for the award are Gilly Hagen, from Sutton, who has been nominated for her work throughout the Covid-19 pandemic in helping establish a community transport scheme supporting people to collect medications and get to appointments, and Nikki Slack, West Nottinghamshire College assistant principal and a trust governor, who ‘has been instrumental in the delivery of trainee nursing associates, a programme which brought 50 new employees to the trust’.

Nearly 500 nominations were received across 19 categories, with independent panels considering the nominations to draw up a shortlist of three for each honour.

Two individuals and a team have been shortlisted for the people’s award, which is backed by your Chad and seeks nominations from members of the public.

Margaret King, who has worked in the domestic cleaning team for 15 years, has been nominated for the support she gives to young adults with learning difficulties whom she helps into further employment within the trust, while the specialist nursing team in stoma care have been shortlisted for the ‘calm support and professionalism they provide day in and day out to patients under their care’.

Jessica Smart, a haematology specialist nurse, has been nominated for ‘going above and beyond and genuinely caring about what her patients are going through’.

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on Wednesday, July 5.

Paul Robinson, trust chief executive, said: “What a fantastic bunch of individuals who have really shown their dedication to the trust and our patients by going above and beyond in all that they do.

“It’s not hard to see why we were once again voted the best trust to receive care and to work for in the Midlands.”