Parkside secures double prize at South London Community Star & Care Awards

Parkside Private Hospital secured a double award win at the annual South London Community Star & Care Awards on Wednesday 23 June.

Parkside’s successful entries were in the ‘Care Employer’ and ‘Good Nurse’ categories, with the latter won by Liz Dowling, Parkside’s Director of Nursing and Clinical Services.

The awards celebrate the work of local heroes for their outstanding work in the community, and this year’s entries were rightly dominated by the response of individuals and companies to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Parkside’s success in the ‘Care Employer’ category follows a busy and challenging year in which the hospital supported the NHS by committing its staff, equipment and resources to help battle the pandemic. Located within close proximity to central London, Parkside was perfectly placed to support some of the country’s largest NHS Trusts such as St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, at Parkside we continued the rollout of our health and wellbeing strategy to empower and support staff at Parkside. The strategy has since been taken on by parent company Aspen Healthcare and been implemented across its network of hospitals and clinics.

Parkside also enjoyed success in the highly-coveted ‘Good Nurse’ category, with Liz Dowling picking up the award for playing a leading role in coordinating our response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since March 2020 Parkside has been working closely with local NHS trusts and has committed its staff, resources and equipment to the health service. Liz was at the heart of these efforts and ensured patient safety and wellbeing was considered at all times.

Commenting on the award success, Phil Bates, Hospital Director at Parkside, said: “We’re delighted to have picked up two awards in this celebration of the heroes in our community. I’m very proud of our team for all the work they have done during Covid including taking on urgent surgery, performing vital scans and various other outpatient appointments and consultations. Above all, these awards have shone a light on the brilliant work taking place across South London. Congratulations to all the worthy finalists who deserve credit for working tirelessly during a challenging year.”

Liz Dowling, Parkside’s Director of Nursing and Clinical Services, said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to have received the ‘Good Nurse’ award and delighted for the whole Parkside team. It’s undoubtedly been a challenging year but to be recognised with this award is extremely satisfying, and a testament to the brilliant work across our team.”

This year’s award ceremony was held online due to the pandemic and featured guest appearances from The Inbetweeners star James Buckley, Dr Phil Hammond and former England Rugby player James Haskell as well as  Birds of a Feather star Lesley Joseph and Ricky Tomlinson.