IBMS member honoured at HSJ Awards
The HSJ EU Staff Award was sponsored by NHS Employers, in recognition of workers from around the European Union and their contributions to the NHS. In a break from tradition, the 2016 HSJ EU Staff Award has been awarded to six winners, including IBMS member Luminita Maxwell Georgescu, a biomedical scientist in immunology at Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals Foundation Trust.
Luminita was nominated for her tireless innovative thinking and morale-boosting enthusiasm. Here are a few words from her about her win:
“My manager Alexandra Grainey nominated me for the EU award for tireless innovative thinking and morale-boosting enthusiasm. Alistair McLellan, HSJ editor introduced the prize, the first one of the night and he broke tradition and named all six shortlisted for the EU staff wards as winners (from over 100 nominations). I am proud and humbled to be one of them. The HSJ awards celebrate excellence and the fantastic work and achievements of staff working in healthcare across the country. The EU staff award was created this year to celebrate the contribution of EU staff to NHS. The audience gave us a standing ovation for a good few minutes, which was such an emotional moment – one which we were all grateful for... I am a proud Senior Biomedical Scientist and a proud EU citizen originally from Romania, it does not matter where we are from, working in healthcare is about compassion, devotion and pride.”
HSJ editor Alastair McLellan presented the award and commented, “The league of nations that constitutes the NHS workforce is one of its strengths, yet a set of circumstances had arisen in which NHS staff saw friends and colleagues – many who had given years of service to the NHS – begin to feel unwelcome and uncertain; strangers in a land many had learned to call home.
We wanted to do our bit to combat this tide of negativity towards NHS staff from EU countries; to celebrate their role in the service…The NHS has always relied on people from around the world to help it deliver for its patients and even accounting for planned welcome increases in home grown staff, it always will.”
The IBMS warmly congratulates Luminita and her fellow award winners on their well-deserved awards. For more information about the HSJ, click here. You can follow updates about the event on Twitter using the hashtag #HSJAwards.