Community director celebrated in Trust awards

The Deputy Director for Community and Rehabilitation at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust (BHT) has won the Outstanding Community Care Award at the Trust’s annual awards.

Vicky Perkins was awarded the accolade at the BHT’s Awards, which took place at the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre earlier this month.

Her determination and passion have ensured the right services are delivered at the right location to benefit residents from more deprived areas of Buckinghamshire who might otherwise struggle to access healthcare services.

Through her and her teams hard work Unit 33 opened on September 26, 2023, as the first health on the high street outlet in Buckinghamshire.

It is located within the heart of Aylesbury at Friars Square shopping centre. Unit 33 offers a range of services including blood pressure testing, health visiting services, NHS Health Checks, sexual health services, veteran support, and immunisation.

It supports local residents, in one of the most deprived areas of the Buckinghamshire, to take control of their health and wellbeing by offering proactive support and advice, in a convenient location with excellent public transport links.

Since opening, 14,000 people have accessed the unit and hundreds of people have had their blood pressure checked or a mini health check (which includes blood pressure, BMI, mental health assessment, alcohol intake and smoking status).

People were able to receive advice on healthy lifestyle behaviours and directed to the right support as required.

Public feedback has been extremely positive with a 4.87 star rating out of 5 and people reporting changes in their lifestyle including weight loss, increase in physical activity and improvement in mental health.

A colleague said, “Vicky is a true advocate for the patient, looking at everything we do and the services we deliver from their perspective.”

The BHT Annual Awards celebrate some of the exceptional people working or volunteering at the Trust.

All colleagues, whatever their role, are encouraged and expected to lead by example living by the Trust’s CARE values of Collaborate, Aspire, Respect and Enable.

There were eleven awards in three categories from outstanding leadership to kindness to a people’s award.

They were presented by members of the Trust board and senior leaders, while the event was also live-streamed to enable as many people as possible to cheer on and support their colleagues, friends and family.