Support staff are the oil in the engines of hospitals, doctors’ surgeries and other health and care settings, helping to make sure life runs smoothly for everybody. Sue Bradley meets Judith Cullen, winner of the Support Staff of the Year category in the 2019 South Wales Argus Health & Care Awards.

GP RECEPTIONIST Judith Cullen’s heartfelt interest in helping carers earned her the ‘Support Staff of the Year’ accolade at the South Wales Argus Health & Care Awards in 2019.

The team member at Practice Two at the Keir Hardie Health Park in Merthyr Tydfil has made it her mission to locate patients who act as carers - whether it’s husbands, wives and partners, daughters and sons, or even neighbours and friends.

This knowledge allows Ms Cullen and her colleagues to pass on information about all the help and support that’s available, much of which she’s learned about since undertaking Carers’ Champion training.

MORE NEWS:

Ms Cullen’s passion for helping carers stems from her own experiences in looking after her own mum, Shirley during the years she suffered from dementia, and, before that, her son Scott, who had leukaemia when he was a teenager.

“Scott was poorly when he was 15; he’s now 34 with two children so there’s a happy ending,” she explains. “My sister, Jocelyn Lynch, and I cared for our mother before she passed away; towards the end her mind started to wander. It was cruel.

“With my mother I didn’t realise the help that’s out there. I think when a person has been in that situation themselves they can emphasise because they have an insight into caring and copying in difficult times.

“When I was doing the training I began to think about all the help that was out there, and how nobody seemed to know about it. I really enjoy helping carers – it really doesn’t feel like work.”

Ms Cullen has devoted a huge amount of effort to discovering the identities of patients who act as carers, and the people they look after.

“The idea was for them to have a point of contact to pass on any problems they had, or any issues, so that we could point them in the right direction,” says Ms Cullen, who lives in Cefn Coed and has been working at Dr Padma Nannapaneni’s practice for six years. “It might be that they needed certain pieces of equipment to make their lives easier, or a number of an organisation that could provide emotional support.”

Ms Cullen and her colleagues have achieved a great deal in their roles as carers’ champions, although the arrival of coronavirus has led them to spend more time focusing on protecting patients.

“At some stage we hope to pick up the pieces of the carers’ work we were doing and start again,” she says.

“At the moment we hardly see a soul at the health park; everything is done by phone but it’s nice to know patients can still speak to people.”

As for her ‘Support Staff of the Year’ award, Ms Cullen says she felt proud to be the 2019 recipient, although initially she thought somebody was pulling her leg when an email saying she had been shortlisted came through.

“I never thought in a million years that I would win something like this,” she laughs. “I never expected anything like this, but it really does make me feel appreciated.

“My certificate is proudly on display in the practice.”

  • Do you have a ‘Judith’ at your local GP surgery, hospital, care home or medical setting? Make them feel appreciated and celebrate the valuable work they do by nominating them for the South Wales Argus Health & Care Awards. Visit: www.southwalesargus.co.uk/healthandcareawards

Top industry training on offer at awards sponsor

COLEG Gwent, sponsor of the ‘Best Innovation Award’ at the South Wales Argus Health & Care Awards, is proud to train the healthcare providers of the future.

Healthcare has been in the spotlight since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, and Coleg Gwent has seen an increase in the number of learners interested in pursuing a career in this sector.

South Wales Argus:

Helen Curtis and John Witcher, both teaching staff at Coleg Gwent and Registered Nurses, at the refresher training delivered to frontline NHS staff to help in the fight against Covid-19

With a greater need for skills in this field, the college is proud to educate the healthcare providers of the future and proud to sponsor the South Wales Argus Health and Care Awards this year.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Coleg Gwent has supported learners, staff and the local community in many ways. The college has aimed to keep learning going while keeping everyone safe.

From moving to virtual teaching and learning during lockdown and providing learners with Covid-19 hygiene kits for the return to campuses, to donating PPE to the local health board and providing fast-track refresher training for frontline staff.

Working closely with key industry partners like Aneurin Bevan University Health Board has been crucial in helping Coleg Gwent to develop a curriculum that provides learners with the skills that are most needed by local healthcare employers.

These strong links with key industry partners also enable learners at Coleg Gwent to access meaningful work placements to gain invaluable experience and insight into careers in healthcare.

With a range of full time and part time courses and apprenticeships in healthcare, including Access to HE - Nursing, Medical and Health Care Studies, your career in healthcare begins at Coleg Gwent.

Find out more about studying healthcare at Coleg Gwent’s next live virtual open event on November 3 at: www.coleggwent.ac.uk/openevents

South Wales Argus: