NHS Orkney – Team Orkney Awards Night 2025
The winners of the 2025 Team Orkney Awards were announced at a special event held tonight which showcased the incredible talent and hard work of staff and teams across the organisation.
157 nominations were received for this year’s Team Orkney Awards across thirteen categories which were updated from last year based on feedback from staff.
Our Team Orkney Awards are in direct response to staff and are now part of our wider reward and recognition programme across NHS Orkney.
The Team Orkney Awards highlight examples of outstanding patient care, inspirational support and leadership, excellent teamwork and how living NHS Orkney’s values has made a significant difference to the lives of patients and our community.
Our 2025 winners and finalists are:
- Clinical Team of the Year – This award recognises a clinical team that has gone above and beyond their duties, leaving a remarkable impact on our patients.
- Winner – Dialysis
- Finalists – Podiatry and Day Unit
- Non-Clinical Team of the Year – The organisation will honour a non-clinical team that has gone above and beyond in their duties to support their colleagues
- Winner – Central Decontamination Unit (CDU)
- Finalists – Domestics Team and Improvement Hub
- Providing Excellent Care – This clinical professional has a remarkable impact on the lives of patients, caregivers, and colleagues.
- Winner – Ultrasound Team
- Finalists – Emma Sutherland & Theresa Ritch and Stuart Drummond
- Leader of the Year – This prestigious award celebrates remarkable leadership from an individual who consistently demonstrates a positive influence on patients, service users, caregivers, and colleagues while upholding our values.
- Winner – Louise Willis
- Finalists – Carl Savage and Sarah Campbell
- Learner of the Year – This award is a celebration of a remarkable individual's abilities.
- Winner – Hannah Leslie
- Finalists – Laura van Schayk and Louise Moar
- Special Recognition – This individual's unwavering commitment to NHS Orkney is truly admirable, as they continuously strive to enhance the well-being of both patients and colleagues.
- Winner – Dr Kevin Fox
- Finalists – Nikki Coghill and Moira Sinclair
- Continuous Improvement – This award recognises a team or individual who has developed or undertaken service/quality improvements, made changes to the way they work, made savings, or undertaken research, for the benefit of patients and colleagues, their department and NHS Orkney as a whole.
- Winner – Sarah Lyon
- Finalists – Digital Services Team and Zoe Page
- Open and Honest – The winner of this award will be an exceptional role model when it comes to openness and transparency with our patients, community and colleagues.
- Winner – Ian Coghill
- Finalists – Joy Tait & Karen Barnett and Sharon Keyes
- Respect – Sponsored by UNISON – The winner of this award will be for a colleague who goes out of their way to engage with patients, community, and colleagues to promote inclusion and equality, and be respectful of and embrace difference and diversity.
- Winner – Lizzie Saunders
- Finalists – Kyran Taylor and Merrick Welbon
- Kindness – The winner of this award will have been an exceptional role model for kindness, whether this is toward patients, our community or colleagues.
- Winner – Kim Hamilton
- Finalists – Belinda Richards and Jenny Wilson
- Excellence in the Community – This Award is in response to feedback that we have more work to do as an organisation to recognise the outstanding work that Team Orkney do both in our Community and on our ferry-linked isles.
- Winner – Louise Smith & Lorna Drever
- Finalists – John Macdonald and Kate Shiner
- Star of the Future – The recipient of the Star of the Future Award will be a true trailblazer, blazing a path for the next generation of healthcare leaders.
- Winner – Dr Fiona Learmonth
- Finalists – Chloe Crawford and Nikki Coghill
- People’s Choice Award – Sponsored by The Orcadian - The opportunity to recognise extraordinary individuals through the People’s Choice Award is truly remarkable.
- Winner – Donald McLean
- Finalists – Emergency Department, Hoy First Responders, Lily Corse, Louise Brewer and Dr Rita Mildner
Laura Skaife-Knight, Chief Executive at NHS Orkney said: “This year we had an incredible response to our awards with 50 more nominations than last year, 157 nominations across 13 categories and 42 individuals/teams shortlisted. The awards evening tonight was a memorable one where we celebrated and recognised our nominees, shortlist and winners for 2025 for their incredible achievements and for all colleagues and teams across NHS Orkney do to look after our community and provide excellent care.”
Meghan McEwen, Chair at NHS Orkney said: “What an amazing evening we had celebrating a phenomenal field of nominees and winners! Our staff are our biggest asset, and it is a pleasure to take this opportunity to celebrate outstanding examples of high-quality care delivered by our staff and teams across the year. Thank you to Unison and The Orcadian for sponsoring the awards this year and to the judging panel for all their work. Our Team Orkney Awards are one of our proudest moments across the year, and my thanks go to those colleagues who deliver for our patients every day.”
Leah Seator, Editor at The Orcadian said: "The Orcadian is delighted to have sponsored this event for a second time. The growth seen in award nominations this year shows that the Team Orkney Awards are something that staff have really taken to heart and engaged in, to show support for their colleagues.
As a judge, I found scoring nominees incredibly difficult - every single person on the longlist was worthy of an award. Everyone should be so proud of themselves, the work they do, and the fact that their exemplary work ethic is noticed and appreciated by colleagues.”
The awards were made possible thanks to the support from our sponsors and the Orkney Health Board Endowment Funds - a registered Scottish charity.
A final thanks to everyone behind the scenes, on the awards committee and those attending on the night, for the photographs, the entertainment, the décor, the food and The Legion for hosting us all!