The Oxford Mail has teamed up with Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust to celebrate the outstanding work of its hospital staff. Finalists for this year’s Hospital Heroes awards have been chosen and a total of 10 entries for the individual and team awards have been shortlisted. Annabal Bagdi talks to the first two finalists

NOMINATIONS for the second Hospital Heroes awards have been flooding in since July.

To celebrate the outstanding work of our hospital staff, we invited readers to tell us about the unsung heroes who have made a real difference in their lives.

From nurses, midwives, porters, consultants, healthcare assistants and volunteers to all those behind-the-scenes, we have spent months searching for our hospital heroes of 2014.

The awards were launched last year when the Oxford Mail joined forces with the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust to coincide with the 65th anniversary of the NHS.

The trust runs Oxford’s John Radcliffe and Churchill hospitals, as well as the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and Banbury’s Horton General.

Deserving nominations have been received within the two categories, the Hospital Heroes Team award and the Hospital Heroes Individual award.

Now Oxford Mail editor Simon O’Neill, along with trust chief executive Sir Jonathan Michael, will have the difficult task of selecting the winners from the ten shortlisted entries.

Winners are set to be revealed on Wednesday, December 3, during the trust’s annual staff awards evening.

A MOTHER-OF-SEVEN is over the moon after the medic who saved her life was shortlisted for the Hospital Heroes awards.

Housewife Lianne Moody, 40, was admitted to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford after her heart condition worsened with her seventh pregnancy.

She decided to nominate consultant cardiologist Dr Oliver Ormerod for an individual award after he helped safely deliver her baby Charlie, now eight months.

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Lianne Moody with her husband Dave and son Charlie

Mrs Moody, from Northamptonshire, said: “I’m over the moon, I’m really, really pleased.

“I just think Dr Ormerod is really special and he really deserves it, especially as it was not just me, it was Charlie as well – there were two lives at risk.

“We can’t thank him enough so this would be the biggest thank you we could give him.”

Mrs Moody was diagnosed with abnormal heart rhythm Idiopathic Left Ventricular Tachycardia about seven years ago after the birth of her fifth child Tommy.

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Charlie at six months old

But at 38 weeks’ pregnant she was transferred from Northampton General Hospital after medics found her heart to be unstable with a fast and erratic beat.

She was admitted to the Headington’s hospital’s special care pregnancy unit Silver Star on February 18 before Dr Ormerod performed an echocardiogram.

But Mrs Moody was told she needed to deliver soon as her heart was struggling and was later taken to a critical care unit by Dr Ormerod, where she had an epidural and the birth was induced.

Mrs Moody said: “Dr Ormerod put me at ease and made me feel safe and secure.”

After an eight-hour labour and surrounded by a team of medics organised by Dr Ormerod, she gave birth to Charlie the next day. He weighed 7lbs 3oz.

Mrs Moody said: “I was later told my heart had been working at 30 per cent and failing.

“I feel privileged to be taken under his wing and to be cared for in the way that I was.

“I had an expert cardiologist who filled me with confidence every step of the way and was also a friend.“ Dr Ormerod said after 30 years of caring for pregnant women with heart conditions, Mrs Moody’s condition was the first of its kind he had seen.

He added: “Having a baby if there is something wrong with your heart is pretty scary.

“There are times in life when your doctor doing his job properly just isn’t enough.

“Childbirth, when it is far from certain that your heart will cooperate, is just such an occasion.”

Mrs Moody said she still continues to see Dr Ormerod and he regularly emails her and husband Dave, 41, to check on progress.

She added: “He has been very supportive at a time when I really really needed it.”

PARENTS of a nine-year-old girl who suffered a brain tumour have praised a neurosurgery team for their phenomenal care.

Liz and John Henderson nominated the John Radcliffe Hospital team after they cared for daughter Gabriella during her six brain operations.

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 Liz and John Henderson with Gabriella, nine, William, seven, left, and Alexander, three, right

The Witney family are now “ecstatic” the team, based on Robin’s Ward, have been shortlisted for the Oxford Mail’s Hospital Heroes awards.

Mrs Henderson, 39, said: “It was nothing short of a miracle what they have done – I think they are the only reason we made it.

“Right from the word go, the care was phenomenal. It was just unbelievable. People can be quite critical of the NHS but I feel they went so beyond anything that was expected of them. It was the personal touch that went beyond any medical necessity.”

Gabriella, a pupil at Witney’s The King’s School, was diagnosed with a Choroid Plexus Papilloma tumour in June after years of suffering with symptoms.

Mrs Henderson said her daughter would struggle with school homework, become emotional regularly, sleep often and suffered “sporadic falls” and a “mini-blackout”.

Regular trips to NHS and private GPs failed to identify the cause of Gabriella’s problems.

But on June 24 the tumour was discovered after her parents rushed her to the Headington hospital with concerns over involuntary movements.

During the next week she had three operations on her brain.

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John Radcliffe Hospital’s neurosurgery team, from left, senior staff nurse George Carey, play specialist Erica Watson, student nurse Caitlin Woodman, consultant Peter Richards, clinical support worker Louise Pink (kneeling), registrar Tim Lawrence, staff nurse Sheila Estavillo, staff nurse Marie Godden (kneeling), senior house officer Venkat Thiagarajan, consultant Shailendra Magdum, clinical support worker Sophie Blaine, staff nurse Nikki Phillips and consultant Jay Jayamohan

The following week medics removed two thirds of the tumour during a 12-hour operation and then performed two more brain operations before Gabriella left hospital at the end of July.

The Hendersons insist they would not have overcome their ordeal if it were not for the entire Robin’s Ward team.

Mother-of-three Mrs Henderson said: “During Gabby’s stay on the ward, the whole team showed amazing professionalism and NHS care which John and I will never forget.”

She praised the nursing team for visiting Gabriella in their spare time when she was transferred to another ward, organising a massage for her while Gabriella was in theatre and arranging for the family to stay in the Ronald McDonald House accommodation.

Mrs Henderson said consultant neurosurgeon Dr Jay Jayamohan also performed some of Gabriella’s operations before he left for his holidays to ensure she was well.

Mr Henderson, 40, said: “We were blown away by their drive to care for the whole family, while always maintaining a smile.

“Dr Jay treated Gabriella as if she was his daughter.”

Father-of-three Dr Jayamohan said: “You tend to build up a very strong bond with the families.

“Even though you only know them for a short while, it’s so intense that the bond you make with them is so strong and that drives you to go above and beyond what you do.”

Gabriella, who returned to school in September, said: “They should win because the nurses looked after me and played with me and the doctors helped to get my brain better.’’