The stage was set, the lights dimmed, excitement filled the air as members of Liverpool Women’s Hospital staff arrived at the magnificent St George’s Hall. The highly anticipated Dedicated to Excellence Awards 2025 were just moments away.
Over 350 members of staff gathered in style on Friday 7 March 2025, to celebrate their achievements over the last 12 months. From start to finish, the atmosphere was electric. Guests arrived to a welcome drinks reception and conversations buzzed with anticipation about the awards and who would be crowned winners.
As the anticipation built, our lively hosts, Leanne Campbell and Joel Ross from Hits Radio Breakfast, took to the stage. With grace and humour, they guided the audience through the 16 awards, tackling the tricky NHS jargon with charm.
While all the winners were truly deserving, two awards stood out on the night. The first one being, Volunteer of the Year. This award was presented to Laine Rogers. Laine has been a dedicated volunteer at the Trust for several years, offering her time and support tirelessly each week. Laine’s responsibilities include helping the Volunteers Manager, supporting new volunteers, and offering assistance to the Hewitt Fertility Centre, where she is affectionately known as their ‘little ray of sunshine.’ Following a heartfelt speech in which she expressed gratitude to the staff at LWH for making her role so enjoyable, Laine received a standing ovation, as she exited the stage to cheers from the crowd.
The second standout moment of the evening honoured a much-loved colleague, Zora Castling, who sadly passed away in September 2024 after a long illness. Zora was awarded the NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, Chief Executive Award, presented by UHLG Chief Executive, James Sumner.
Zora joined Liverpool Women’s as a trainee before becoming a consultant in October 2021. She was affectionately loved by the women and families she cared for and highly respected by her colleagues. In 2024 Zora was awarded ‘Nurturer of the Year’, with her peers describing her as “the consultant obstetrician who gives the best life advice”. The room fell silent as James Sumner addressed the audience in memory of Zora. Zora’s family accepted the award in her honour and received a moving standing ovation from all in the room.
The night was filled with many memorable moments, including an incredible fundraising effort by Liverpool Women’s Hospital Charity, who raised over £2,000 for the Staff Welfare Fund.
With so much talent and passion in the room, it was no surprise the celebrations continued well into the night. The dance floor was packed as staff danced the night away to some 90s dance classics from Saxo Beats, followed by an energetic DJ set by Ricco.
A special thank you must also be given to the amazing sponsors who supported this year’s event. Special thanks goes to; Tilbury Douglas, RMS Scanning, Browne Jacobson, and Hill Dickinson.
Here is a summary of all the winners on the night:
Outstanding Contribution to Clinical Support Services
- Sarah Maguire/Cancer Team: Mainstreaming Prostate Cancer Genomics Testing
As more treatment options have been approved for prostate cancer the ideal pathways for genomic testing were identified and this involved testing through oncology in all local services. The cancer team have worked on several mainstreaming projects with this being the latest and in some ways more complex as genomics testing involved tumour testing and germline testing.
Outstanding Contribution to Gynaecology
- Donation and Surrogacy Team
The Donation and Surrogacy Team have worked tirelessly to revolutionise the pathways for fertility patients requiring these services, to improve their safety, experience and chance of achieving a family. The introduction of an egg bank, creation of fairer packages for embryo recipients, collaboration with external organisations to improve access to surrogacy, and expanding the sperm donor programme, have drastically reduced the waiting list times, improved safety measures, and raised the standard of care for our patients.
Outstanding Contribution to Corporate and Non-Clinical Services
- Claire Butler
Claire’s resilience, reliability, and ability to deliver the best for her team, her department, her wider colleagues and the hospital, day after day, under the most challenging of circumstances, is truly outstanding. This kind of contribution often goes unnoticed, as it’s in the background, keeping the lights on, but its absence is felt hard.
Outstanding Contribution to Family Health
- The Multiple Pregnancy Service at LWH
Our nationally leading woman centred twin service, led by the specialist midwifery team, offers innovative approaches to patient care. This includes coffee mornings, twin parent education, cervical length screening (years ahead of NICE guidance) and an appointment structure above NHS standards suitable for such a high-risk population.
Outstanding Contribution to Research and Innovation
- The Thermoregulation Group (Neonatal)
The Thermoregulation Group have been working towards improving temperature control in babies admitted to the neonatal unit. The group have audited the incidence of hypothermia in neonatal admissions and reviewed and implemented changes to try and improve temperature control in this group.
Volunteer of the Year
- Laine Rogers
Laine says she has found her calling since becoming a volunteer. She’s been an amazing help to the volunteers and volunteer manager, by buddying new volunteers in the meet and greet role and helping them settle and grow in confidence, she has helped volunteers complete their mandatory training and has provided admin support to the volunteer manager. She has also been helping the Hewitt Fertility Centre with basic administration; they say Laine is their ‘Little ray of sunshine’
Staff Fundraiser of the Year
- Dr Emily Hoyle
Emily has championed feeding our families on the Neonatal unit and worked with Sophies Legacy Charity and LWH Charity to make this happen. The result has been a proven pilot project that has ensured future food provision for families.
Rising Star Award
- Gemma Birkett
Gemma Birkett was a band 6 midwife on delivery suite but has been temporary Clinical Lead of the Midwifery Led Unit since the start of 2024, she also runs the Birth Choices Clinic alongside Consultant Midwife Jane Wilson. Since coming into this new post Gemma has been dedicated to making positive changes to the MLU, with service user and staff satisfaction at the forefront consistently.
Learner of the Year
- Jontai Smith
Jontai has expedited her journey to becoming ward manager within the Hewitt Fertility Centre, Knutsford. Within 2 years, she has gained qualifications and become competent in performing embryo transfers and fertility ultrasound scanning.
Mentor of the Year
- Dee Pearson
Since taking on the lead role for education within the neonatal department Dee has supported the neonatal nursing education team to develop a robust strategy for training across the LNP plus supported nurses, ANNPs and resident doctors across the department in developing their own knowledge and skills in neonatal care.
Employee of the Year
- Carolyn Blaney, Switchboard Operator
Carolyn goes above and beyond in her current role as switchboard operative. Carolyn runs the switchboard on a day-to-day basis without fuss, without her security (switchboard) and switchboard would not run effectively. Carolyn deserves this recognition for the continued efforts to the trust and continually going above and beyond in her job role.
Team of the Year
- EPAU
The EPAU Department moved to its own unit in November 2023. The aim for the move was to offer patients better care and management of their early pregnancy and miscarriages. The EPAU team have since taken further roles to provide patients with continuous care during a patient’s miscarriage journey by introducing the nurse sonographers to complete consent and provide medical management.
People’s Choice Award
- Marie McPartlin, Patient Advice and Liaison Officer
After an incident in which Marie helped a lady suffering with her mental health in Liverpool City Centre, she received this feedback from the lady’s husband: “I honestly and truly believe Marie was a blessing that day. The kindness she shown to my wife, a stranger was amazing and without her sheer kindness and compassion, it pains me to say, I don't believe my wife would be here today. In my eyes, she saved her life. Marie is a credit to your hospital, and I would really love this message of thanks to reach her, so she knows the impact she has had on us as a family without even realising it. A little bit of kindness goes a long way. My boys still have their Mum and I still have my wife to love and she has played a massive part in that.”
LWH Executive Managing Director Award
Digital Services
Rainbow Clinic
University Hospitals Group CEO Award
Zora Castling
To view the full list of finalists for all the awards, visit: https://www.liverpoolwomens.nhs.uk/dedicated-to-excellence-finalists-2025/dedicated-to-excellence-programme/
Congratulations to all of our winners and finalists and thank you to all who attended to make it a special night.