Steve Rigby wins our NHFT Wellbeing Ambassador Award
In November, NHFT's Quality Awards 2024 celebrated people across NHFT who are making a difference to patients, service users and carers every single day.
A huge congratulations to the winners, those who were highly commended, and everyone who was nominated.
Following on from the awards, we're taking a closer look at some of the winners and asking them to tell us more about their role and find out why they were nominated.
"A personal passion for looking after my colleagues" is how Steve Rigby describes his approach to supporting those around him on a daily basis.
The Advanced Physiotherapist, who joined the Trust in 2016, won the NHFT Wellbeing Ambassador Award at our recent Quality Awards.
In his nomination, by a colleague, it mentioned Steve's ability to "bring an uplifting and positive atmosphere, fostering a sense of calm and enjoyment among the team and ensuring that the workplace remains a happy and harmonious space."
It also mentioned Steve's "golden retriever energy" and his efforts to promote a culture of openness and support.
Despite admitting he was a bit "embarrassed and taken aback" to be nominated for the award, Steve said once he'd discussed it with his wife, he felt proud as it shows that wellbeing at work is something that should be, and is, celebrated. He said the award win, and sharing news of his award win recently in a radio interview, has made him feel really valued.
He said: "It's vindication that being a good person and looking after your colleagues is something that should be recognised, and this Trust is so good at looking after its workforce, so this was putting that really high up on the agenda."
In his role, Steve will assess patients and identify the best options for them, whether that's helping them manage the symptoms themselves, or signposting them to other services such as the MSK [Musculoskeletal] Physiotherapy service or Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioners.
Steve said: "We want to see the right person at the right time, make sure they have the appropriate information and treatment, and live well, for longer."
Referrals come from GPs or secondary care, and many patients receive treatment for long-term pain in, for example, their back, neck, shoulders or knees. Many patients come from deprived backgrounds, with experience of housing issues and unemployment. They may also be experiencing anxiety, depression, substance abuse, or have emotionally unstable personalities or bi-polar, and perhaps lead unhealthy lifestyles which have exacerbated their physical problems.
They are perhaps less likely to have robust support networks in place to help them cope with ill health. The importance of this is something that Steve acknowledges when supporting colleagues.
"When I had my second son last December, I had a lot of colleagues who were there to support me at that time. This reinforced how important it is to have that support network around you. I had a mission in myself that I wouldn't allow others to feel that work is a place they can't feel safe, and that they can't approach colleagues with concerns they may be having."
Steve acknowledged that a lot of the work he and his colleagues do, can be very challenging and sometimes colleagues need extra support.
"I firmly believe that we cannot give our patients and service users the best quality care if we're not in the best place ourselves," he said, "I want to be a colleague and a friend, and support others in the same way I would want to be treated."
His ability to balance his own work, whilst noticing when colleagues are not at their best and in need of a listening ear, was one of the reasons for his award win. Steve said he acquired this attribute to engage empathetically with people from his mum, who worked as a nurse.
"Everyone has good days and bad days at work. We deal with some heavy topics; we have to be robust in ourselves and feel that we can access support and feel that work is a place we can function to the best of our ability. For me, humour is central. Being self-deprecating, and able to laugh at yourself is important, and not take yourself too seriously with colleagues. Sometimes, as well, showing vulnerability is key to encouraging openness from others; if there's an authenticity and a sincerity there people will naturally gravitate towards that. If you show that you've been in these situations yourself, and that you're a human being, people are more likely to open up."
Steve added: "I have a genuine enthusiasm for what I do; the people I work with make me smile, they make me laugh, and I owe an awful lot of my own wellbeing to them, so I want to give back to them what they've done for me. I'm fortunate I am to be allowed to be involved in people's lives and for patients and colleagues to open up to me. All I ever wanted to do was work for the NHS. And I'm incredibly grateful for the job I do."
Find out more about Physiotherapy on our website.