Long-serving Swansea NHS healthcare professional signs off with lifetime achievement award

Miss Sheryl Morris, Senior Chief Cardiorespiratory Physiologist, who recently retired from SBUHB after more than 45 years of service at Singleton Hospital’s Cardiology Department, now holds a British Society of Echocardiography Lifetime Achievement Award.

The British Society of Echocardiography presents the Lifetime Achievement Award annually to recognise members who have contributed significantly, and demonstrated outstanding achievements and longevity, within the field of echocardiography.

Dr Geraint Morris, Consultant Paediatrician and Clinical Apprenticeship Lead and Honorary Senior Lecturer, Swansea University Medical School, said:

Sheryl had been widely acknowledged as “an expert” in her field who had always gone “above and beyond” to do an “immeasurably large amount of good” for those in her care, stating he couldn’t think of anyone more “deserving” of the award, labelling it “a fitting gesture to mark the end of a career of which she can be extremely proud.”

“I can’t imagine that anyone deserves this more than she does, and we think this will be a fitting gesture to mark the end of a career of which she can be extremely proud, and during which she did an immeasurably large amount of good to the children, young people, and families under her care.

“Sheryl worked tirelessly as an NHS Cardiorespiratory Physiologist in Swansea for more than 45 years and developed expertise in paediatric echocardiography.

“She trained in Swansea and in Cardiff and started offering a paediatric echocardiography service in the late 1990s. Since then, Sheryl has been widely acknowledged as an expert in this skill among local and tertiary paediatric cardiology colleagues.

“Sheryl has always gone above and beyond in her post, from providing biscuits and refreshments for clinical colleagues in outpatient clinics, to staying on, well beyond her working hours, to ensure children who require urgent investigations get them, and acting, in many instances, as a conduit between clinical teams.

“It would be impossible to adequately assess the magnitude of the amassed hours that Sheryl has put into her job – finishing reports, replying to emails, and preparing for clinics, often alone in the department, when others have long gone home. Suffice to say that it has not gone unnoticed and her colleagues of all grades and disciplines are very grateful to her.

“Despite some significant health problems, Sheryl has seldom had any time off work. She is extremely resilient, and her dogged determination to complete all her duties to a high standard has never left a task unfinished. She has always, imperceptibly, booked annual leave to ‘suit’ the clinical work and has never begrudged the additional burden that this must have placed on her personal life.”

Dr Morris praised Sheryl for being a constant within the service over the years.

He said: “During times of rapid changes in healthcare, including transitions between clinicians, Sheryl is the one constant that her young patients have been able to recognise and expect to see in their hospital visits, from infancy to adulthood. Often patients, when explaining their histories, will address her, not so much the clinician in the room!”

Her contribution to the children’s service was recognised in the Health Board’s Chairman’s Awards Ceremony on 5th July 2018 with a Highly Commended award in recognition of her outstanding work.

Sheryl also played a role in shaping future careers.

Dr Morris said: “With the high number of young paediatric trainees who worked in the paediatric and neonatal services at Swansea, inevitably some developed an interest in paediatric cardiology and Sheryl was instrumental in teaching them echocardiography, and many of these have gone on to become consultants in various parts of the world, retaining the skills that Sheryl taught them.

“More recently, Sheryl has taught all our current excellent team of paediatric physiologists, from beginner level through to passing their European Accreditation Examination in paediatric echocardiography.”

Dr Morris added that Sheryl had proved to be the ‘model’ work colleague over the years.

He said: “On top of all her work-related achievements, she has been an extremely pleasant and agreeable colleague – she has never said a word in anger. She can be firm when needed but never crossed that professional line with her own feelings or views. Indeed, she has always been very cheerful, and her lovely smile has an uplifting effect on all around her.”

The award came out of the blue for Sheryl.

She said: “Receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award was a total surprise.

“I have been fortunate to have had a career that I have thoroughly enjoyed-particularly echocardiography. I have a lot of people to thank over the years for getting me to this point – too many to mention.

“I particularly want to thank all my colleagues who took the time to nominate me for this award as they thought I was deserving of it. I am truly overwhelmed and touched.

“This is the ‘icing on the cake’ of my career. Thank you so much. Diolch yn fawr!”

[Lead image: Swansea Bay University Health Board]

#BritishSociety #cardiology #Echocardiography #SingletonHospital #SwanseaBayNHS #SwanseaBayUniversityHealthBoard

हृदयविकाराची तपासणी कशी केली जाते आणि त्याचा महत्व काय आहे हे जाणून घ्या. अधिक माहिती मिळवण्यासाठी कृपया खालील लिंक क्लिक करा.

#HeartDiagnosis #ECG #Echocardiography #MedicalTests #samarthneuro #superspeciality #hospital #miraj #maharashtra

The department is currently celebrating renewed accreditation from the British Society of Echocardiography (BSE) following an inspection to ensure they are adhering to exacting rules.

Inspectors looked at a raft of processes including machines, operators, quality of reports and scope of echo procedures, as well as staff training, qualifications and accreditation.

The glowing report that followed should come as no surprise to those who know the service as it became one of the first in the UK to meet the BSE criteria when first introduced in 2007.

Cardiac ultrasound scanning – echocardiography, or simply echo – allows physicians to look at the size, structure and function of the heart, and is the most frequent specialist cardiac investigation.

It involves putting a small amount of gel on the patient’s chest, then placing a probe on the chest and obtaining moving images of the heart.

A routine full echo scan takes 40-45 minutes to complete.

When the service was established in Morriston in 1995 it consisted of just one room and two echo cardiographers.

Today, it has a team of 11 and three trainees, working out of seven rooms – three for outpatients and two for inpatients plus a dedicated scanning room in  the Acute Medical Unit and a room for the heart failure service in Gorseinon Hospital.

Patients can be scanned in the department or at their bedside.

The service has grown considerably over the years with heart disease, or its detection, becoming more prevalent with more patients coming through the service.

Ailsa Wallis, Service Manager for Clinical Physiology at Morriston Hospital, said:

“Echo is one of the single most wanted tests in cardiology for a patient who comes into the hospital – we carry out around 14,000 scans every year.”

Ailsa welcomed the renewed accreditation.

She said: “This accreditation just shows the effort that all staff put into the service and the dedication that staff have for their patients’ needs.

“It’s a recognition of the high standards that we have achieved providing a high quality service – it’s a strict criteria of what we have to deliver to be able to hold this accreditation. 

“This May we welcomed Dr Charlotte Thornton, a newly appointed consultant with interest in cardiac imaging, who is already making a positive mark on standards in the department.

“This continued accreditation has been due to the hard work and commitment of the whole team, I feel privileged to work alongside this amazing team.”

Adam Fowell, head of echocardiography, said:

“I’m very proud of our staff. We have an excellent team of cardiac physiologists behind our echo service. 

“Now our service is busier than ever but we have not only maintained high standards through this period, we have more and more physiologists in advanced echo procedures.”

Cardiac consultant, Dr Adrian Ionescu, said:

“We were the first in the UK to be accredited with the new more rigorous rules – we revised countless versions proposed by the BSE, and then they administered us the procedure for accreditation as a ‘test case’. 

“We have been re-accredited with flying colours ever since, and now we hold accreditation for all the classes of echo, and we are proud of that, as it’s not such a commonly-bestowed mark of quality and achievement.”

[Lead image: Swansea University Health Board]

https://swanseabaynews.com/2024/11/04/swansea-hospital-echocardiography-department-continues-to-set-the-standards/

#Echocardiography #MorristonHospital #SwanseaUniversityHealthBoard