Dr Al-Idari
A well-respected Emergency Department acting consultant at Blackpool Victoria Hospital has had his work recognised by Health Education England North West (HEENW).
Associate Specialist, Mr Romaih Al-Idari, won two Specialty and Associate Staff (SAS) awards for his work during the COVID pandemic and for his post graduate education work.
Mr Al-Idari, who has worked for Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust since 2001, said: “This is not just for me, but for the whole of our amazing team in the Emergency Department. I could not have done my work without them.”
The SAS COVID-19 Achievement Award is for Specialty and Associate doctors and dentists who have made particular achievements or innovations in their practice during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In his nomination, he was praised for being Emergency Department lead for COVID-19 since the beginning of pandemic. In this role he re-designed the department to enable the team to care for suspected COVID and non COVID cases appropriately. In addition, Mr Al-Idari led the Fit FFP3 Testing Team and managed the introduction of the use of hoods for those staff who were unable to use standard FFP3 masks.
The SAS Post Graduate Educator Award is for Specialty and Associate doctors and dentists who deliver excellence within postgraduate education, whether to doctors or to other members of the multi-professional team.
In his nomination, Mr Al-Idari was highlighted as the Trust’s Clinical Simulation Lead; educating Foundation Years doctors, the Emergency Medicine Department and Internal Medicine trainees. Embracing new technology, Mr Al-Idari has been instrumental in developing teaching methods using an on-line platform and is currently building a library of teaching sessions to be delivered on MS Teams. The Physician Associates and Advanced Clinical practitioners (both trainees and qualified) benefit from his supervision and teaching. Most recently, Mr Al-Idari has taken over the Clinical Educators in Emergency Department – Royal College of Emergency Medicine and Health Education England sessions due to COVID-19 redeployment.
Mr Al-Idari started his career at Blackpool in the Ear, Nose and Throat department before moving on to surgical rotation and joined the Emergency Department in 2004.
He added: “What’s the best thing about my job? Everything. We have the best supportive team. I enjoy helping patients and enjoy teaching my colleagues. All the team are really chuffed with my awards, but without them, I wouldn’t succeed.
“I’d like to say a huge thank you to Directorate Manager Helen Raybould Head of Department, Dr Kearns, Matron Tara Hassett and all the team, including the Department Education Lead – Mr Kidner and Lancaster Royal Infirmary for kindly nominating me.”
HEENW held the virtual awards ceremony, featuring 10 categories, on March 4, 2021.