22 December 2025

More than 200 people who work or volunteer at Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust gathered at Queen’s College, Cambridge on Thursday 19 December to salute the individuals and teams nominated for their outstanding contributions to our hospital.  

These awards provide an opportunity to celebrate the combined hard work and commitment to upholding the trust’s values of compassion, collaboration and excellence. It proved a truly uplifting occasion.  

From an extraordinary 646 nominations, a shortlist of 45 individuals and teams was selected, with three nominees in each category. The stories of why people were nominated were truly inspiring.  

In all, 15 awards were presented on the night, which was hosted by former BBC Look East presenter, Stewart White. 

Congratulations to all our winners and all those highly commended colleagues.:

 

Compassion (Clinical) 

Winner: Suzette Williams-Shaw (healthcare support worker, critical care)

Highly Commended: Victor Tapah (deputy charge nurse and cardiac surgery specialist, critical care) and Helen Webb (cardiac rehabilitation service lead) 

 

Compassion (Non-clinical) 

Winner: Suzanne Boniface (Waterbeach accommodation manager) 

Highly Commended: Dan Rose (deputy switchboard manager) and Michelle Pellant (PA and medical secretary, cardiac surgery)

 

Excellence (Clinical) 

Winner: Gemma Bibby (speech and language therapy and dietetic assistant practioner) 

Highly Commended: Susan George (advanced nurse practitioner) and Rina Ali (clinical nurse specialist – cardiothoracic) 

 

Excellence (Non-clinical) 

Winner: Wayne Fairclough (cath lab / cardiac physiology stores manager) 

Highly Commended: Helen Swarbrick (lead business intelligent analyst) and Adam Radwell (head of workforce information) 

 

Collaboration (Clinical) 

Winner: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) hybrid clinic team

Highly Commended: Matthew Gibson (theatre porter) and Dr Robert Gatherer (consultant in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine) 

 

Collaboration (Non-clinical) 

Winner: Aaron Woods (research facilitator and governance coordinator, Clinical Research Facility) 

Highly Commended: Karen Webster (volunteers coordinator) and Marcus Hall (finance business partner) 

 

Learning and Development 

Winner: Dr Claudio Ripa (clinical fellow, critical care) 

Highly Commended: Benjamin McCleary (specialist physiotherapist for thoracic and PEA surgery) and Stephen Parish (supportive and palliative care clinical nurse specialist and education facilitator)

 

Leadership Award 

Winner: Holly Le Winton (senior clinical respiratory physiologist) 

Highly Commended: Dr Chris Johnson (divisional direct for thoracic and ambulatory; chief medical information officer) and Katie Hodge (deputy service manager, secretarial team) 

 

The Skanska Green Award 

Winner: Jack Woolcomb (sleep, CPAP and respiratory physiology lead) 

Highly Commended: Rebecca Ingram (specialist physiotherapist – thoracic) and Rebecca Appleby (highly specialist cardiac physiologist)

 

Volunteer of the Year 

Winner: Susan Hall 

Highly Commended: Donald Douglas and Charles Gambrill 

 

Quality Improvement Champion of the Year 

Winner: Catarina de Oliveira (deputy sister, cardiology) 

Highly Commended: Jemma Redfarn (clinical nurse tracker – cancer transformation) and James Philp (specialist physiotherapist) 

 

Inclusion Award 

Winner: Katie Morrish (programme manager – strategic projects) 

Highly Commended: Emeline Decque (senior rotational pharmacist) and Roseanna Gibbons (highly specialist cardiac physiologist)

 

Student / Apprentice of the Year 

Winner: Leanne Bywater (nursing associate, 4 South) 

Highly Commended: Raneem El-Sherif (cardiac physiologist) and Ciprian Carstiuc-Butnaru (healthcare support worker, critical care) 

 

Team of the Year (Non-clinical) 

Winner: Nursing career pathways team 

Highly Commended: Executive assistants and switchboard 

 

Team of the Year (Clinical) 

Winner: Acute Coronary Syndrome team 

Highly Commended: National Organ Retrieval Service (NORS) and Sleep Laboratory 

 

The Royal Papworth Hospital Staff Awards event could not take place without the help of our sponsors. Therefore a huge thank you goes to our lead sponsor Skanska; support sponsors Royal Papworth Hospital Charity, Procea Limited and Cyferd; welcome sponsor CMR Surgical and afterparty sponsor Softcat.

More photos from the event can be found on our Facebook page.