Congratulations to University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust Orthoptic Casualty lead Rahilah Bukhari who has been named 2021 AHP of the Year.

She picked up the prize at the Chief Allied Health Professions Officer (CAHPO) Awards.

It followed success for Rahilah and her team in the Workforce Transformation Award category for wide-ranging changes to improve our eye emergency service for children.

An overall winner was then selected by Suzanne Rastrick, Chief Allied Health Professions Officer for England.

“It came as a complete shock but was thrilled at the same time,” said Rahilah. “I am very proud, not just for myself but for the whole team at UHCW.”

Eye Casualty used to be a walk-in service with no separate pathway for children; there was often no filtering of urgent referrals which resulted in many children waiting several hours to be assessed.

But in March 2020 it moved to a telephone triage service which proved to be a great success, reducing the number of people needing to come into hospital and ensuring youngsters are directed immediately into the paediatric eye emergency service should they require to be seen face to face.

The aim was to establish a safe, timely, paperless eye referral pathway for children to be assessed and managed appropriately.

Rahilah said: “I must thank everyone who has played a part. This includes the core paediatric team of Alan Lok, Silvy Joseph, Rebecca George and Amber Preston, who have aided the streamlining of the service on the ground floor.

“I must also thank Helen Simpson, Jerald William, Rynn Lee and Ben Royal for providing the necessary challenge and guidance and to all the senior eye casualty doctors for their support and clinical oversight.

“It has shown that as AHPs we can lead change and deliver a positive impact for our patients.”

Well done Rahilah, everyone at UHCW is very proud of your achievements.