At Medequip, it’s always been important to us to celebrate our people and their individual and team achievements, which is why we first introduced the Big Thank You Day some years ago. This annual event sees Medequip people nominated by their peers for the work they do, in recognition of their skills and abilities.
2020 was a very different year, and it is more important than ever to honour the people who have played a vital role in helping to keep our service users and our colleagues safe and protected. Normally, the Big Thank You Day is a celebratory event attended by all nominees. This year was a very different virtual event, but the focus remained the same; to recognise and celebrate individual and team achievements across the organisation.
The Revenue Enhancement Award went to Medequip’s Stafford depot for their outstanding delivery performance on the PPE distribution project. Runners up were the Rotherham depot for their sterling work on the new Sheffield contract, and Matthew Brown (Newton Aycliffe) for coordinating and planning resources for a major bed contract.
The SHEQ Star Award went to Atlanta Somers (Emersons Green) for her work in running the depot short term and helping to achieve an audit score of 97% - its best ever. Runner up was last year’s winner of this Award Glynn Davies, in recognition of his valuable work as a Centre of Excellence trainer, and supporting the Stability Restoration Project at Rotherham and Sheffield
The Customer & Client Recognition Award was won by Anna Hunt (Knaresborough) for her work building sustained relationships with Health & Social Care staff, leading to an improved service across the Recycled Specials range. Runners up were Emily Cauldwell (Alfreton) for leadership qualities, compassion, calmness under pressure and talents in problem solving and Aaron Theaker (Rotherham) for his contribution to the management of specialist respiratory equipment.
Manager of the Year Award went to Marc Varley, who has led the London team with calmness, dedication and determination throughout the COVID 19 pandemic. Runners up were Marie Martinalli for her work on the COVID 19 emergency planning group and third successive year achieving a sustained reduction in accident rates, with Luke Derrick recognised for his contribution at Emersons Green and Weston Super Mare, building up his teams and establishing excellent working relationships with contract managers.
The COVID 19 Emergency Planning Group won Best Team Award for their strong purpose, teamwork and clarity and speed of decision making to protect the business and our people. Runners up were Manage At Home for successfully delivering sales performance over 40% up on 2019, despite the challenges they faced, and BNSSG Emersons Green and Weston-super-Mare, for achievement at the depots in the face of the pandemic backdrop and a re-tendering exercise.
Winner of the Unsung Hero(es) Award were the Medequip Connect Responders for consistently turning out at all hours to support and keep our clients safe in these difficult times. Runners up were Natalia Moiseenkova (HR) for her work in helping to navigate managerial issues in terms of staffing, faced with all the challenges of the pandemic and staff absences, and Hizaar Hussain (IT) for his qualities of calm and helpfulness as well as the impact of his skill and experience on the business.
The Best Newcomer Award went to Michelle Montgomery (Medequip Connect) for her flexibility and positivity, working well with the team and sharing experience. Runners up were Mark Brady (Bromborough) for his ability to pick up all aspects of his role at a time of heightened activity and Anup Sachdeva (Head Office) for successfully forging new relationships, sharing information and implementing new projects.
The Cleaning Operative of the Year Award went to Tianna Hamner (Emersons Green) for helping the Emersons Green team to excel and also for her support on the Sheffield implementation in Sheffield Runners up were Tom Jenkins (Emersons Green), for being a hardworking, well respected, great all-rounder and Sam Bagnall (Stafford), a highly thought of team player.
Customer Services Advisor of the Year was awarded to Tracey Clarkson (Manage At Home) for setting the work ethic standard for 2020, supporting the team and keeping service levels high. Runners up were Emily Cauldwell (Alfreton) for her approachability and excellent communication skills and Laura Ousby (Leyland) for the successful move of her team to home working, taking on extra responsibilities whilst working to a newly implemented management structure
The Innovation Award was hotly contested by Michaela Harris for her work on the Blink staff engagement application, which now has 800 members of staff using the system, the Falls Prevention Team for continuing to deliver for older more vulnerable service users through telephone contact, Facebook and YouTube exercise videos, and the Head Office HR/Payroll team for the launch of the new payroll system, with the Falls Prevention Team taking the Award.
The Living Medequip Values Award went to Arijan Veladzic (Procurement) for keeping his promises, empowering people, embracing change and his passion for teamwork. Runners up were Jamie Welland (Heathrow) for his massive contribution this year managing PPE and also Josh Spence (Mandela Way) for his positivity, reliability, great work ethic and understanding of the systems.
Technician/Service Engineer of the Year Award nominations included Leon Mullings (Emerson Green) for his work to help others, Adrian Hunt (Woolwich) for his outstanding commitment and hard work, professionalism, patience and Gary Cork (Stafford) the service engineer known for solving problems for the technicians. The award went to Adrian Hunt.
Warehouse Operative of the Year was won by Kirsty Lambourne (Calne) for her work in making the warehouse at Calne the best it can be, leading from the front. Runners up were Ryan Munday (Heathrow) for his ‘can do’ attitude and knowledgeable approach, and Ryan Duxbury (Brighouse) for his supportive, helpful and efficient contributions.
The Employee of the Year Award went to Simon Cooke (Newton Aycliffe) who volunteered to be the first tech to complete a COVID job so he could feed back his experience to colleagues, and also volunteered for extra shifts to support high risk on call Techs. Runners up were Florin Vasile (Woodford Green), the first to volunteer to go over the threshold of a confirmed COVID address, who successfully coordinated the depot’s OOH COVID Response Team, and Lucy Rothmeisel (Medequip) for helping to integrate the OOH service into the ERC and her commitment to creating and adapting work systems.
Stafford was judged Best Fundraising Depot of the Year, with Yvonne Higgins (Bromborough) winning Individual Fundraiser of the Year.
Medequip Long Service Awards were then celebrated, naming a total of 16 colleagues who have been working in the business for more than 10 years, seven for more than 15 years and one for more than 20 years.
The Special Recognition Award went to the Customer Service Project Team consisting of Andrew Firth, Justyna Uminska, Marie Martinalli, Marc Varley, Peter Gaunt and Michaela Harris for the successful delivery of the project to have a regionalised and home-based CS function bringing substantial benefits to the business and a better work life balance for the staff.
The Chris Bull Award is a special Award given in memory of one of Medequip’s most valued colleagues following his premature loss to cancer, and is given to the team or individual who embodies all Chris’s best traits - hard work, commitment, honour, values and a certain colourfulness! This year the award goes to Medequip’s IT Mr Fixit Phil Lewis, who never gives up and always goes the extra mile.
The Business Development Award went to Richard McLean (Newton Aycliffe) in recognition of his leadership and delivery of the Medequip One Way project.
The MD’s Award for Special Achievement 2020 has been awarded to every frontline Medequip colleague involved in the delivery, installation and collection of equipment from service user homes with COVID 19 present and those cleaning and recycling that equipment, recognising their outstanding commitment in what was a difficult and challenging year.
An amazing 249 nominations in total! Congratulations to all our winners, our runners up and those who were nominated this year!