Posted: 12 October 2020

Helen Bewley recognised in Queen’s Birthday Honours list

Many congratulations to Helen Bewley, who has been awarded an Order of the British Empire medal (BEM) for her services to pathology during COVID-19. Helen, lead anatomical pathology technician (APT) and head of the mortuary team, has been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours announced at the weekend.

The Queen’s Birthday Honours Lists 2020 recognise the outstanding achievements of people across the United Kingdom. The Queen authorised the delay of her traditional Birthday Honours from June so all those who played an outstanding role in helping the nation at the height of the pandemic could be recognised. This included many NHS colleagues from across the country, including Helen.

When asked about how she feels to receive the award Helen said: “This award is a complete and wonderful surprise. I’m so humbled and honoured that the usually unseen work of APTs and pathology teams has been recognised. We endeavour to do our very best for all who require our services and make sure we treat everyone with the respect, dignity and care their loved ones expect. Death is a once in a lifetime event for us all, but for me and my team it is something we work with daily. This doesn’t mean we become blind to the importance of this final stage, quite the reverse, and during recent months when workloads and stress levels have risen for all NHS teams we have been ever more mindful of the importance of maintaining high standards and respect for the individuals in our care.”

Helen has been lead anatomical pathology technician in the Trust for around 20 years and is held in high regard by her colleagues and partner agencies. Under her management the department has received frequent plaudits from relatives of the deceased regarding her compassion and from funeral directors regarding the standards of her work. The high standards Helen oversees in the department were also recognised by the Care Quality Commission on its last inspection when the mortuary received an ‘outstanding’ status.

Since the pandemic began not only has Helen managed to maintain high standards in her normal duties but has picked up an increased workload covering additional duties when colleagues needed to shield or were themselves ill.

Helen has done all of this while wearing full PPE to carry out her job in a risky environment with known COVID-19 infected deceased patients needing to be cared for within the mortuary. Helen has also taken great care of those she works alongside, regularly deep cleaning the mortuaries at Stoke Mandeville and Wycombe hospitals to minimise the risk for any colleagues, porters or funeral directors coming into the department.

Helen was instrumental in organising the Trust preparedness for an increased number of deaths due to the virus and has hugely increased the mortuary capacity as well as liaising with the council and other external agencies to set up the COVID-19 response hub based at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. Due to Helen’s dedication and efforts leading a very hard-working team the Trust was more than ready for the first wave of the virus and is well equipped should there be another rise in COVID-19 related deaths in the future.

Trust Chief Executive, Neil Macdonald said: “Outstanding care for everyone in our local community is what we aim to deliver at the Trust at all times and I am incredibly proud that Helen’s outstanding contribution during a time of great challenge has been recognised at a national level.”

Pictured above from left to right: Neil Macdonald, CEO; Helen Bewley, Mortuary Manager and Karen Bonner, Chief Nurse.