The awards publicly acknowledge HCA members who have been nominated for demonstrating excellence and innovation in their chosen category over the past 12 months.
The judging panel consisted of the President The Rt Hon Lord Hunt of Kings Heath PC OBE, Vice Presidents Mark Hayman, Alison McCree with National Chairman Brian Robb.
Nine awards were presented on the awards night including Caterer of the Year, Catering Team of the Year, Efficiency and Improvement Award, Special Contribution Award, National Rising Star, National Leadership and Excellence Award, Trade stand, Chairman Choice and the Wilma Wilkie Outstanding Service Award.
The full list of HCA winners:
Caterer of Year (sponsored by Hobart): Andrea Raymond, Operations Manager- Catering Services Northamptonshire Healthcare Danetre Hospital (Oxford Branch)
Andrea has achieved an impressive series of quality improvements for patients and staff, including food provision of new meals & menus, standard recipes and photographic specification on how each meal should be served.
Catering Team of the Year: Stuart Wray, Head of Catering, Darlington Memorial Hospital
The Catering Team are a high performing team committed to producing and serving safe, appetising, nourishing, and well balanced meals and beverages, which are full of flavour to patients, staff and visitors.
Best Trade Stand: Ramco UK Ltd (M37)
Efficiency & Improvement Award (sponsored by Hefma): Karen McLaughlin, General Manager for Catering and Domestic Services Trust wide, Northern Trust (Northern Ireland Branch)
Karen was instrumental in introducing the safety pause, which identifies shared responsibility between those preparing and serving the meals and those responsible for the patients' care.
National Rising Star: Kush Naik, Senior Catering Dietitian, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, (Trent Branch)
Generous of nature and spirit, Kush has glowing inner radiance and is very caring. She is captivating and has a genuine passion and interest in what she does. So much so, people feed off her enthusiasm.
National Leadership Excellence Award: Clodagh Hastings, Assistant Support Service Manager, Gransha Hospital, Western Trust (Northern Ireland Branch)
Clodagh is selfless to a fault, and goes above and beyond to ensure that staff, service users. She works hard and dedication she puts into her career. She is unaware of her own worth and because she is unaware of the level of respect that she receives from her teammates.
Chairman’s Choice: West of Scotland Branch
In 2022/23 the branch recognised its role in supporting and linking members throughout the pandemic with combat rural settings, virtual meetings, branch Study Day and Burns supper having to be postponed, and held 2023, where it was back to being bigger and better event.
Wilma Wilkie Outstanding Service Award: Carol Birch, Associate Director of Facilities, (Northern Branch)
Carol’s relevant and present-day knowledge and experience gained from working within the NHS along with her passion, integrity, personal commitment and tenacity is of great benefit to the ongoing success of the services she leads, the HCA and the wider NHS.
Special Contribution Award: Mark Hayman
Mark has been a member for over 45 years, and held many Branch and National position such as National Chair, National Secretary and for the past 12 year’s National Vice-President Position.
For more information please visit: www.hospitalcaterers.org.