Claire Jones, senior healthcare assistant

“Claire started at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust on 3 August 2022 as a senior healthcare assistant on the clinical research facility (CRF). This role involves: working in the phlebotomy room in the Oak Road treatment centre (ORTC), running outpatient research clinics and helping with patient care on the CRF treatment floor. “I think Claire has been nominated because she (like all my staff) goes the extra mile when needed. She takes time to get to know our patients and speaks up when she thinks something isn’t right and she isn’t easily ‘fobbed-off’. This makes her a tenacious individual though she is gorgeous with it as she has the personality to stand her ground without getting flustered. “Claire is family orientated, she is married with girls and loves socialising. She jokes that her daughter knows more about IT than she does as she had to ask her daughter how the MS Teams worked when we interviewed her for the post. She has a lovely friendly disposition, always looks smart, always wears her makeup even though we wear masks for work. She has just slotted so well into our team. She’s helpful to everyone and we all love her.”

Helen Donovan, matron on the CRF

“Claire was in the blood room on the ORTC ground floor carrying out phlebotomy on trial patients that morning. One of the gynae research patients was called for bloods and did not attend, therefore Claire went to look for the patient. “When Claire found the patient, she knew something wasn't right with the patient and she immediately took her to the chair in the blood room, Claire then alerted a senior member of the research team who were in clinic to come and review the patient. She pushed for the patient to be transferred to the clinic room for further review in a safe place. The patient proceeded to require outreach assistance and a crash call was put out for the patient. This patient was later diagnosed with having had a stroke. “The critical care doctors had nothing but praise for Claire for picking these signs up so early and alerting the medical team who could intervene early and make sure the patient received the care required in such a short space of time. The patient was later transferred to the stroke unit at Salford Royal in a serious condition. But has since recovered and is in a much more stable condition. “The patient's daughter has contacted me to express her thanks to the whole team that took care of her on the day, but especially to Claire who dealt with the patient first and picked things up so early. I really believe Claire made a huge difference in the recovery of the patient and could have ultimately saved her life!”

Chelsey Wheeler, staff member