Compassionate care wins physiotherapist an award nomination

Sarah Holden, Senior Physiotherapist and Clinical Lead, Oxford Prosthetics Department, is one of the finalists in the Award for Compassion category at the Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) Staff Recognition Awards taking place at Oxford Town Hall on Thursday 6 July.

Sarah has been a physiotherapist for 15 years, and her job has two key areas of responsibility. As a physiotherapist, she meets with patients who may need to have amputations to provide information about rehab pathways; she also works alongside other colleagues to deliver physiotherapy, rehabilitation and exercise programmes to help people who have issues walking to achieve independence.

Being a clinical lead enables Sarah to provide support to other clinicians both internally and externally to the Trust, and she is responsible for clinical governance and the overall day-to-day clinical management of the Prosthetics service.

When the finalists for the Staff Recognition Awards were announced, Sarah was on holiday, and she was shocked but excited and flattered when a colleague let her know the good news. Sarah was nominated due to her outstanding support to one of her patients.

Part of her nomination read: "Sarah recently had a patient that had voiced their intent to harm them-self. Sarah and her team rallied round to offer support as they always do, regularly ringing and speaking with the patient and checking in with them.

"During many of such conversations, it became apparent to Sarah that the patient may have further issues including the potential for a missed diagnosis of learning disabilities. The patient had lost their job, their home, were in temporary accommodation that was less than satisfactory and had no family or community support. Sarah set out to work with the patient's GP and community to find out what other support was available.

"She pursued the GP and Learning Disability teams who eventually found out that the patient did have learning disabilities, and a package of care was put in place. This was to provide support for the ongoing difficult conversations about options for the patient’s long term treatment options, and also provided close monitoring and contact with the patient in the community to ensure they did not harm themselves. I am very proud to call Sarah my colleague who has gone above and beyond her role."

Sarah works with a team of about 15 people and they look after around 100 patients every month.

Sarah Holden said: "I appreciate the fact that I'm able to help people achieve their physical and functional goals. It's great to see people who initially come in a wheelchair and progress to walking with a prosthesis and being a part of that journey. This nomination is really for my whole team and my patients as well because I've learned a lot from them. I wouldn’t be here without them."