Geoff Whitby, Specialist Audiologist at Kingston Hospital, has been presented with the British Academy of Audiology (BAA) ‘Peggy Chalmers Audiologist of the Year’ award. This prestigious award recognises an Audiologist who stands out from the crowd with regards to patient care, and who has gone above and beyond to put patients first.
Geoff was nominated by Justine Sweet, Head of Audiology, who said in her nomination “As the COVID numbers surged after the initial outbreak, volunteers to be redeployed to our COVID wards were sought. Geoff didn’t think twice! Within 24 hours he was receiving orientation on our COVID ITU and over the coming weeks and months he showed extraordinary dedication and commitment. Geoff has since led our post COVID hearing screening service, supporting patients who report hearing and tinnitus concerns. All ITU staff have since highlighted how inspirational he is. We are so very proud of him.”
Geoff commented on the award, saying “A big thank you to the BAA committee for awarding me the ‘Peggy Chalmers Audiologist of the Year’ award. Peggy Chalmers, along with Dr J Knight, Graham Frost and Asker Mirtsa, were my tutors on the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear hospital course in the early 1980’s. This award is for all my fellow Audiologists I have met over the years, each and every one of you made me the Audiologist I am today. I would add a massive thank you to all on Kingston ITU for supporting me during my redeployment. During this time I saw the NHS and multi-disciplinary team work at it’s finest.”
