The Hidden Heroes initiative was established to identify some of the excellent individuals and teams who would otherwise go without recognition, as well as try to highlight this incredible work that too often goes unnoticed.
Kyla is based the College Surgery Partnership. Dr Lorna Mason said ‘Cometh The Hour, Cometh The Woman! Kyla is our practice manger and since the start of the pandemic has worked tirelessly to adapt to the ever-moving targets and sea of guidance and documents from on high whilst nurturing her flock of GPs and practice staff. She has risen to every challenge we have faced with gusto, humour and ruthless efficiency. Her interventions have meant we have not had a single case of practice acquired Covid 19 and sickness levels, despite all the challenges, are well below normal. Kyla, working with other local practices in the PCN, has established a vaccination centre in our practice building where we have delivered nearly 4000 vaccinations in ten days (with only about a weeks notice of vaccine supply.) She was ahead of the game in understanding how important volunteers would be to help us deliver our vaccination service and started mobilising them early on. With safety always in mind, we also have a segregated area designed by Kyla for assessing potential Covid patients and she has also negotiated extra funding to open an area of the building previously leased to an osteopath to provide extra consulting areas to free up space to run the vaccination clinics. This all represents a Herculean effort led by Kyla. She has given of her free time, working often into the night and at weekends in a demonstration of true vocation and dedication to supporting the local population. She recently told me that seeing our first patients vaccinated made all the hard work worth it. Throughout she has retained her sense of humour and dispensed home-baked treats (she is also a trained chef!) to keep us all energised and motivated. She has created a staff WhatsApp group providing daily updates to help the teams feel more connected and includes on this ‘National Day’ it is (for example letting us know when National Trivia Day is!) which staff have really valued. So far, not a single drop of vaccine has been wasted, no one has been put at risk, and patients have been provided with ongoing care for non Covid as well as Covid related-illness across our multi-site, two practice partnership. The hour of reckoning for the NHS has come but so has our local hero to meet every challenge and keep us all smiling throughout. I have never met anyone with the energy, enthusiasm or dedication that Kyla brings to the demands and too often thankless task of being a practice manager. I can think of nobody more deserving of recognition.
Kyla received the award on the 26th of May and said:
“The awards were established by four Companies who are playing a key role in Supporting General Practice with the pandemic: Dene Healthcare, Gama Healthcare, Interface Clinical Services and Practice Index. Matt Taylor of Dene Healthcare who presented the award was quoted as saying: ‘2020 was a hard year for most and sadly the amazing work being done in General Practice is too often overlooked, Kyla is exactly the type of individual we were hoping to identify and in some small way thank them for their contribution during the most difficult period in modern times.”