Sister Starr with her certificate
What’s all this we read and hear about nurses reaching retirement age? Great Western Hospital’s STAR of the Month is Sister Starr – the award gave her full name: Antoinette Starr. But everyone calls her Toni.
She started nursing with the NHS in 1964 and she’s going to be 72 in November. Is she thinking about retiring soon? “I don’t want to retire – I can’t think what I’d do with my life. We need to push forward. Some people think older people get stuck in the mud – I’m always looking how things can improve. I don’t want to retire – ever.”
Sister Toni works in GWH’s Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) – caring for many premature babies and for babies who get into medical difficulties very soon after their birth. Two of her former patients were there on Friday (May 26) for the presentation.
Twins Ashton (in red) and Oliver (in blue) are four now and fit and healthy – if a wee bit over whelmed by their role in presenting a bunch of flowers to Toni. They had some problems soon after birth and were cared for in GWH’s SCBU – where their mum, Nikki Taylor, now works. Nikki knows how good the treatment is in the Unit.
Toni’s nomination was made by Hazel Keen who recently worked in the unit. She is from Aldbourne and now lives in Marlborough. Presenting the award, GWH’s Director of HR, Oonagh Fitzgerald pointed to Hazel’s nomination to show what made Toni such a deserved recipient of the STAR award as someone who “although she might not realise, really does make a huge difference to SCBU”.
Hazel’s nomination continues: “She is always willing to share her knowledge and encourage me and others to get more involved. She notices you for who you really are and what you are interested in.”
“She noticed I had an interest in pain relief and offered me the opportunity to help her promote the use of sucrose and breast milk before any painful procedures such as heel prick were done to babies and she gave me literature to read on it.”
Toni joined Swindon’s Princess Margaret Hospital in 1971 working as a nurse and then a midwife. In 1983 she took a career break and did a first degree and a masters degree in theology at London University’s Heythrop College – supporting herself with hospital shifts. She moved to GWH when it opened in 2002.
Many members of the present SCBU had come in their day off to see the presentation and congratulate Toni. And they had organised a very special cake – complete with caring arms and an icing baby. Everyone I spoke to said how Toni always went the ‘extra mile’ to help and support them – as well as calling her ‘amazing’ and ‘awesome’.
Hazel Keen gave an example of Toni’s ‘extra miles’ for the Unit: “She looks after her team, she never asks of you any more than she would do herself. One night, a nurse was needed to take a baby to Bristol. None of the nurses were able to go that night because they had childcare the next morning…Toni went herself, knowing she was going to be late back from her shift.”
Oonagh Fitzgerald had found something that Toni had written in the hospital’s staff magazine some years ago: “The science behind the care I give is what drives.” It is something that Hazel Keen had found too as Toni helped her when she started on the unit with research papers and terminology.
When I asked Toni about the research she did to find improved treatments, she told me that during that morning shift she had looked up research papers showing you could tell the length of gastric tube a baby needed by its weight – saving the risks trial and error or tape measure estimates.
All the monthly STAR awards come from peer nominations and a judged by an independent panel of four. Oonagh Fitzgerald: “It always a really hard decision – as all nominees goes above and beyond. But it’s good to show staff are respected by their teams.” Photos of STAR winners go up in the main hospital restaurant – and . Oonagh Fitzgerald is always pleased to patients and their families looking at the photos.
GWH’s four STAR values are Service, Teamwork, Ambition and Respect. Each winner receives the certificate, a letter, a £50 M&S voucher and a place at the annual awards dinner in June – where they may be chosen as STAR of the year.
Hazel Keen’s nomination ends: “I believe the NHS would be a greater place to work if there were more Toni Starrs in it and that is the very reason I would like to nominate her for Star of the Month. To me she is a shining star that all of us should aspire to be – an inspiration to others.”
Leaving the Unit I got a glimpse of parents sititng beside cribs as their babies fought their way to a full life – with the essential support and care of the SCBU team…that’s what it’s all about.
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