News and events

We’ve celebrated the hard work and dedication of our staff at two special events this week.

For our next instalment of our In Conversation with…series, we spoke to Alix Holmes, our Macmillan Cancer Information Manager who recently was presented with a long service award after 30 years at our Trust.

Before taking on her current role six years ago, Alix was a nurse in our Oncology department, and was one of the first nurses to be trained to give chemotherapy to patients, early in her career.

Talented Mae Flicker, 13, returned to Queen’s Hospital on Monday 3 December to turn on the Christmas tree lights and play festive tunes on the piano in honour of a lost loved one for the second year running.

Here is the next instalment of our series: In Conversation With… introducing Lucy Pain, palliative care consultant and our clinical lead for end of life care.

Lucy is passionate about her role at our Trust, and providing good end of life care to every patient.

She also had an intellectual start to life – her mum returned to work as a university lecturer just six weeks after having her and when she didn’t like the nursery, kept Lucy in a drawer in her office until she found a suitable childminder!

You may not expect a hospital ward to look and sound like a children’s party, but that was exactly the case at Queen’s Hospital this week when Skittle Man brought his act to Queen’s Hospital.

Next week we’ll be celebrating the Jewish festival of Hanukkah (or Chanukah) which starts on the evening of Sunday 2 December.

Our Chief Nurse Kathryn Halford picked up her OBE for services to nursing on Thursday 29 November.

Mary Kinsella is our local counter fraud specialist - here to detect and prevent fraud across our hospitals. She worked in lots of government departments before joining our Trust, including in the counter terrorism team.

She also loves to get involved in her local community, she volunteers for Macmillan and the Guide Dogs, and loves bell-ringing at her local church!

It’s a special edition of In Conversation With… this week! As part of our recognition for our wonderful volunteers, we spoke to Edie Lay, the winner of our Lifetime Achievement award.

She was presented with her award by our interim Chief Executive, Chris Bown, at a thank you event for all of our volunteers on Monday (19 November). Edie has volunteered at our Trust for a huge 28 years!