March 2026 Honoree
Sonia Couto, RN
As part of her leadership journey, Sonia showed courage and authenticity by actively seeking and responding to honest feedback from colleagues within the Endoscopy Unit at Glenfield Hospital.
Colleagues reported low morale, frustration, and poor motivation, particularly during evening shifts where they felt their skills were being under-utilised and they were frequently finishing late.
Rather than dismissing these concerns, Sonia created a safe and open environment where colleagues from all disciplines, including the administrative booking team, felt able to speak freely about their experiences.
Through reflective discussions and shared learning sessions, Sonia worked collaboratively with the team to fully understand the root causes of time wasting during evening shifts.
She inspired others by role modelling positive leadership behaviours, listening, valuing every voice, and encouraging innovative thinking. This fostered a culture of openness and continuous improvement, where colleagues felt confident to suggest and test changes.
Using Quality Improvement methodology, Sonia led a project with a clear aim: to increase staff utilisation by reducing wasted time during evening shifts by 50% (Monday–Thursday) by February 2025.
This work resulted in significant service redesign, including the courageous decision with her senior nursing team to cancel a longstanding third-party contract and reallocate staffing resources. Colleagues were also empowered to revise rota patterns and reduce reliance on bank hours.
The impact was both measurable and meaningful. The project delivered a financial saving of £227,000, reduced bank staff usage from 65–120 hours per week to zero in some weeks, and ensured colleagues finished work on time.
Most importantly, morale improved significantly as colleagues reported feeling valued, motivated, and better utilised in their roles.
Sonia has since inspired colleagues across the organisation by sharing her project and learning at a variety of forums, supporting wider adoption of improvement approaches.
This demonstrated clear improvements in the quality of care to patients, staff wellbeing, and service efficiency, evidencing Sonia’s ability to turn feedback and learning into transformational change, while developing a stronger, more cohesive team and a culture of shared learning and continual improvement.
Colleagues reported low morale, frustration, and poor motivation, particularly during evening shifts where they felt their skills were being under-utilised and they were frequently finishing late.
Rather than dismissing these concerns, Sonia created a safe and open environment where colleagues from all disciplines, including the administrative booking team, felt able to speak freely about their experiences.
Through reflective discussions and shared learning sessions, Sonia worked collaboratively with the team to fully understand the root causes of time wasting during evening shifts.
She inspired others by role modelling positive leadership behaviours, listening, valuing every voice, and encouraging innovative thinking. This fostered a culture of openness and continuous improvement, where colleagues felt confident to suggest and test changes.
Using Quality Improvement methodology, Sonia led a project with a clear aim: to increase staff utilisation by reducing wasted time during evening shifts by 50% (Monday–Thursday) by February 2025.
This work resulted in significant service redesign, including the courageous decision with her senior nursing team to cancel a longstanding third-party contract and reallocate staffing resources. Colleagues were also empowered to revise rota patterns and reduce reliance on bank hours.
The impact was both measurable and meaningful. The project delivered a financial saving of £227,000, reduced bank staff usage from 65–120 hours per week to zero in some weeks, and ensured colleagues finished work on time.
Most importantly, morale improved significantly as colleagues reported feeling valued, motivated, and better utilised in their roles.
Sonia has since inspired colleagues across the organisation by sharing her project and learning at a variety of forums, supporting wider adoption of improvement approaches.
This demonstrated clear improvements in the quality of care to patients, staff wellbeing, and service efficiency, evidencing Sonia’s ability to turn feedback and learning into transformational change, while developing a stronger, more cohesive team and a culture of shared learning and continual improvement.
Thank you, Sonia, for your exceptional compassion, advocacy, and dedication to your patients. You truly make a difference.
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