Chief Executive award

The Chief Executive of Watford, Hemel Hempstead and St Albans hospitals has been awarded one of the highest accolades in prestigious awards last night (November 19). Samantha Jones was awarded the Health Service Journal (HSJ) Executive of the Year Award at an awards ceremony in London for her ‘passionate, values-driven leader, uncompromising about patient safety with the courage to have honest conversations’ Samantha said “I was surprised to be nominated and absolutely delighted, and extremely humbled, to win the HSJ Chief Executive of the Year Award. “However this award recognises the hard work of every single member of staff across our three hospitals, from the doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants in our A&E department to the porters, cleaners and managers working behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly.” The HSJ Awards are the largest celebration of healthcare excellence in the UK, highlighting the most innovative and successful people and projects in the sector. Mahdi Hasan, Chair said: “I would like to commend Samantha on winning the HSJ Chief Executive of the Year Award. It is thoroughly deserved. Samantha is an absolute inspiration to work with and her commitment to the NHS, our hospitals, our patients and our staff is evident in everything that she does. “The HSJ Awards are the Oscars of the NHS and, combined with being ‘highly commended’ in the patient safety category, this is a very proud day for our hospitals.” Samantha Jones introduced Operation Onion. An initiative aimed at improving the way patients are looked after and empowers doctors, nurses, midwives and other staff. Commenting on being ‘highly commended’ in the patient safety category for ‘Onion’, Dr Mike van der Watt, Medical Director said: “Onion has changed the way we do things across our hospitals and using the ‘peeling back the layers’ philosophy we’ve seen significant improvements in the quality and safety of care we offer to our patients.”