Tower Hamlets nurse is Employee of the Year

A modern matron, respected by both colleagues and patients, was named employee of the year at an awards ceremony held recently.

Alex Obamwonyi, who is a senior nurse at the Tower Hamlets Centre for Mental Health, in Mile End was crowned Employee of the Year at East London NHS Foundation Trust’s Staff Awards Ceremony.

His award was presented to him by Dr Prakash Chandra a GP in Newham with the CCG Newham and Jitesh Chotai, the Finance Director for the Trust. He is well known in the Trust having worked in Newham for some years before moving to Tower Hamlets.

Presenting the award, Mr Chotai said Alex engendered team spirit and a strong culture of support on the ward. His hands-on approach meant he was highly respected by staff and patients alike. An enthusiastic individual, he was always keen to explore new ideas and approaches to improve patient care to make work fun and interesting for staff.

Alex thanked those that had nominated him and said nothing was achieved alone. He said that without the support and commitment of the ward team and senior managers in the unit, it would be hard to make a difference and support service users through their recovery.

Tower Hamlets staff had a share in another award when The Hope Wall Project received the Commissioners Award.

The Hope Wall Project is an East London-wide project which has had a major impact on mental health service users across the Trust. It focuses on the concept of Hope and uses music, poetry, art, symbolism and film to convey the themes of hope.