AN ASSISTANT practitioner at Gobowen’s orthopaedic hospital is the latest to receive the Health Hero Award.

Victoria Hall has joined the list of staff to win the award after being nominated by her colleagues for going the extra mile.

For her work in the Pre-Operative Assessment Unit at the hospital, Victoria received two nominations from Amanda Peet, theatres divisional manager, and Jo Bidmead, pre-op assessment manager.

She was presented her award by chief executive of the hospital trust Mark Brandreth after she was announced as the winner at the Board of Directors meeting.

Victoria said: “I am delighted to be the latest recipient for the Health Hero Award and I really feel this is recognition for my new role as assistant practitioner.

“Over the last two years the whole team have been working to streamline the pre-op processes for local anaesthetic procedures and patients with a less complex medical history that are having minor surgery.

“We have introduced a regular telephone pre-op assessment clinic and a walk-in service for patients once they have been listed for surgery which has had a significant impact on the number of patients being assessed.

“The feedback we have received so far from patients, consultants, divisional managers and the access team has been extremely positive, and we hope to develop the service further over the coming years.

“Thank you to everyone who has supported this.”

As well as receiving a badge and certificate, Victoria also received a box of fresh fruit and vegetables from Box of Goodness.

Mark said: “I’d like to congratulate Victoria on all the hard work she’s put in to improve processes and experience for our patients when they come to pre-op assessment.

“It’s clear that from Amanda and Jo’s words she’s been a real key player in ensuring new initiatives are successful – she’s a very worthy winner.”