Inspirational colleagues are recognised for outstanding patient care at Spire Healthcare

• International DAISY and IRIS recognition awards programme rolled out at Spire Healthcare

Three nurses, two healthcare assistants and one mammographer have become the first winners of the prestigious DAISY and IRIS awards at Spire Healthcare.

The DAISY awards recognise extraordinary registered nurses and nursing associates who go above and beyond. First introduced in the US, they have been adopted by thousands of healthcare organisations around the world. Any patient or staff member can nominate a nurse for an award.

The IRIS (Inclusive Recognition of Inspirational Staff) awards have been rolled out at Spire and are designed to complement the DAISY scheme to enable all clinical colleagues to be recognised in a similar way.

85 people were nominated for an award, and a cross-departmental panel selected the six winners. The scheme will run four times a year, with the next group of winners being chosen in the summer.

Nina Rai, a recipient of the DAISY award

The winners included Sarah Sanger, a cancer nurse specialist from Spire Southampton, for the way she supports cancer patients from diagnosis to surgery to discharge with grace and kindness; and Rhian Raynor, a healthcare assistant at Nottingham, who champions patients with learning disabilities and helped the hospital to gain its recent autism accreditation.  

Professor Lisa Grant, Spire’s Group Clinical Director and Chief Nurse, said: “I’m delighted that we are rolling out these two awards schemes at Spire. They are designed to recognise people who are often unsung heroes, tirelessly working every day to make our patients’ experience of being in our hospitals as comfortable as possible. The six colleagues recognised this time are worthy winners and a credit to Spire.”

Ellie Houlihan, a healthcare assistant from Spire Elland in Yorkshire, one of the IRIS award winners, said: “I feel incredibly lucky and overwhelmed to be the first recipient of the IRIS award.  I always put our patients first, as we naturally do, and strive to provide a comfortable and dignified environment, and for that to be seen and recognised by my colleagues is wonderful. Thank you to the staff at Elland that raised me up, I will appreciate and remember this forever.”

Rhian Raynor pictured with her IRIS award

Ellie Houlihan pictured with her IRIS award