Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 25th April 2024 Issue no. 1111
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Healthcare Cleaning Professionals' Forum focused on 'Facing the Future'
The Association of Healthcare Cleaning Professionals' latest three-day Annual Education and Development Forum, which took place last month, was based on the theme 'Facing the Future'. Organised and managed in-house by the Midlands Branch and AHCP's business manager, the event turned out to be the best and most well-attended for many years.
The Wednesday evening brought 120-plus members and suppliers together for a pre-forum race night and fun evening. There was a 'best hat' competition won by Janet Plows and a number of unusual side events which included a space hopper race.
On the Thursday morning, the event was opened by the national president David Bedwell and forum chair, Alison Lane from the Midlands Branch. The forum was hosted by Penni Taylor, freelance journalist and broadcaster, who kept the programme on time and ensured that the audience participation was maximised.
Thursday's programme was excellent with a range of exciting and stimulating topics which included 'The changing faces of FM', presented by Lauren Kyle, head of cleaning for Sodexho UK and Ireland, through to the motivational speaker Blind Dave, who was inspirational and shared his experiences as the first and only blind person in the world to have completed the ultimate endurance challenge; seven marathons in seven days on seven continents.
This was followed by the glittering annual awards gala dinner attended by 160 guests. This year's award winners were:
- Excellence in Education and Training - Birmingham and Solihull, Mental Health Foundation Trust
- Cleaning Manager of the Year - Elizabeth Tebbutt, University Hospital, Leicester
- Supervisor Team of the Year - Birmingham and Solihull, Mental Health Foundation Trust
- Best Branch - The Welsh Branch
- Outstanding Branch Member - Lisa Grandcourt, Yorkshire and Trent Branch
- Working in Partnership - Birmingham Community NHS Trust
This year's Lifetime Achievement award had some great nominations and two outstanding members could not be separated so, in this 70th year of the NHS, two Lifetime Achievement awards were presented to:
- National Treasurer Lesley Davis
- Past North West Branch Officer Brian Boll
The awards ceremony concluded with the final award, the President's Award with the winner, the Welsh Branch, collecting the award and £500 to spend on advancing the membership within the Branch.
To mark the 70th year of the NHS, the Welsh Branch was invited to cut a celebration cake specially made for the anniversary. The evening continued with dancing into the small hours to Killerstream - a local Birmingham band.
The event programme continued on the Friday and included some excellent presentations from 'Time to Talk about Mental Health' by Mark Evans, marketing & business partnerships officer at Mind Dudley, 'the Implications of BREXIT on healthcare cleaning' by Kate Ling, senior european policy manager, NHS European Office. The final presentation brought many to the room to discuss the 'Revised Cleaning Standards' by Emma Brookes - estates and facilities (EFM) senior policy & strategy lead, - Soft FM, NHSi.
The event proved to be the best for many years with the packed programme being talked about by everyone who attended. The venue - the Hilton at St Georges Park - and surroundings were fantastic and very much added to what was to be a superb event that was enjoyed by all.
You can see photos at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1RpxAukGOi7bvBHxOYCvkaA3sd17TXPxo
12th July 2018