A CATERING team leader in Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, reached the final of this year’s Hospital Caterers’ Association awards.

Amanda Vickery was recognised as among the top four in the country in the ‘National Rising Star’ category.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust’s community services-based facilities manager Anna Warman nominated Amanda for the way she had grown into her role at the trust, using the tips and knowledge from her membership of the Hospital Caterers’ Association to improve practice.

Amanda has continued to develop her career and recently was successful in becoming the catering inpatient and retail manager at Musgrove.

Since the turn of the year, she has been working within the trust’s community services to gain even more experience alongside her role in Musgrove.

Ms Warman said: “We are so proud of Amanda for both getting this national recognition and for her exciting new role at the trust.

“It is also great that she has been working with us out in the community, as this development opportunity would not have been possible if Amanda had not shown such fantastic drive and passion to increase her knowledge of catering within the wider NHS trust.

“She has become a valued member of our community team, embracing new initiatives and ideas.

“Most recently, Amanda worked on our new milk and bread tender to ensure a smooth, seamless transition for all our community and acute hospital sites.

“Amanda is also working alongside our facilities team’s sustainability group to look at how we can reduce single use items and plastics to ensure environmentally friendly and cost-effective products are purchased in the future, a timely initiative given the huge focus our trust is placing on sustainability.

“Another key area that Amanda has brought to the trust from her involvement at the Hospital Caterers’ Association is around food waste, which has involved a trial on four of our inpatient wards, both within Musgrove and the community.

“As part of the NHS Food Review, food waste was reported as a staggering 39 per cent of the total food budget across the country, costing of £230 million every year.

“In Somerset, we have embraced the challenge of reducing our food waste and as this trial was so successful, we are have now extended it to all our inpatient sites with Amanda very much leading the way.”

Amanda said she was thrilled to be recognised in the awards, but she could not have achieved it on her own.

She said: “I have learned so much and gained confidence by working with Anna Warman and Jane Wills, our deputy facilities manager, as they have such a wealth of knowledge.

“It is all thanks to the support and guidance I have had from them, and the development opportunity from our head of facilities Brendan Woods, that I have been recognised in this way.

“I hope I can bring this learning back to my role at Musgrove.”

Amanda has also received a Hospital Caterers’ Association local branch award for the most attended meetings during 2022 and the dedication and participation she has shown.

She also became assistant treasurer for the branch for 2023.