Staff recognised as community champions
Two of our staff members have been recognised as community champions by Southend West MP Anna Firth.
Tracy Reed and Spencer Dinnage were nominated for their service to the NHS and joined other members of the local community at the Community Champion Award ceremony in Leigh-on-Sea on Friday 25 August.
Tracy has worked in the NHS in Essex for 42 years and is our clinical lead for end of life care. She joined the NHS at 17, as an administrative clerk at Warley Hospital. She later trained as a nurse after going to the aid of a patient who had suffered a cardiac arrest.
Tracy’s varied career has included working in general medicine, coronary care, community nursing and caring for the elderly.
She is a Queen’s Nurse and an independent adviser on end of life care for the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
Tracy said: “It is a privilege to be recognised for my contribution to the NHS and the community we serve.”
Spencer is our Operational Service Manager for Older People’s Community Mental Health, Dementia and Frailty in mid and south east Essex.
He is also a regional clinical advisor for older adult mental health for NHS England, and a steward for the Ageing Well Programme for Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System.
Spencer used to work in Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise and re-trained as a mental health nurse in 2007. He is passionate about holistic care for older people and ensuring their mental, physical, emotional, cognitive and social health needs are met.
He said: “It is a lovely honour, but I am doing what I just believe is my job.”
Tracy and Spencer were among 16 people to be recognised at the Community Champions Awards ceremony and were presented with their awards by Ms Firth and Southend mayor Cllr Stephen Habermel.
Anna Firth MP said: “The Community Champion event is one of my favourite events, and I love the opportunity to highlight the amazing work our local residents to do make Southend West the wonderful place that it is.
“I was thrilled to present awards to Tracy and Spencer, who are absolute stalwarts of the NHS community, and whose work in the area is unparalleled.
“Their ongoing commitment to end of life care and mental health respectively is truly inspiring, and I am delighted that this has been recognised.”
Professor Sheila Salmon, chair of Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It was an amazing community event, full of celebration of people’s lives and the passion of local people.
“I felt incredibly proud that two of our staff have been nominated as community champions and that Tracy and Spencer’s dedication to public service and going above and beyond has been recognised in public by the local community.
“I was also incredibly moved by the whole ceremony, which was hosted by Anna Firth MP and the mayor of Southend. It was a fantastic celebration.”
