It came completely out of the blue as I was unaware I had even been nominated!

I felt very proud when I found out that I had won, but that soon turned to shock when I realised I would receive my award at the Community Shield final at Wembley in front of 80,000 people – not to mention the millions watching at home.

I had an absolutely fantastic day meeting football legends including Sir Geoff Hurst, Sir Trevor Brooking and Ian Rush, and stepping onto the most famous football pitch in the world. It was quite surreal, particularly when they announced my name over the loud speakers.

It was a great feeling to be recognised for the work I have put in over the last four years as voluntary secretary of the Sheffield and Hallamshire Girl’s County League. To collect the award at the home of football made it extra special. It is a day I will never forget and I can now say my feet have graced the hallowed turf of Wembley – sort of!

Tina Stringer

Manchester United or Chelsea we certainly aren’t, however we are a group of eight colleagues who all enjoy playing football and socialising together. The team is made up of guys from all different departments at Westfield and has given us the chance to get to know people from across the organisation, which has been great.

A couple of weeks ago we competed in the UK Corporate Games five-a-side competition in Leeds. Last year, when the Games were held here in Sheffield, we finished second and went on to represent the UK at the World Corporate Games in Bilbao, which was a fantastic experience for us.

In this year’s competition we came second in the group stages and finished the tournament as quarter-finalists. Maybe next year ….

We are continuing to play on a regular basis and currently compete in the corporate league at Goals every Monday. We won’t be making it as professionals but we might just beat five-time champions DfES next week!

This got me thinking about customer service in general and why it is important, not just as an accolade to organisations providing the service, but to each and every one of us.

There is often nothing more frustrating than having to deal with an impersonal and inefficient call centre. We all cherish our time, so receiving a prompt, courteous and friendly service should be the norm, not the exception.

So why are we increasingly faced with less than acceptable standards? It doesn’t seem to matter what you are trying to achieve, companies often fail to get it right for the customer.

How much of a difference does it make when we are met with cheerful bus drivers as we start our day? How easy would it be to resolve a query on a utilities bill if you could speak to someone straight away, without being put on hold?

The more common negative experiences that we are accustomed to can become a serious aggravation if they continue to happen, which is why I am proud that Westfield bucks the trend.

High on customers’ wish lists is for companies to keep and deliver on promises made. Simply put – do as they say they are going to do. It’s that simple.

Having the right staff in place with the right skill set, attitude and training is the key to achieving this simple objective, and that is our aim at Westfield Health – to continue to offer an excellent, friendly and prompt customer experience.

If you are reading this then you must have discovered our new blog which we are very proud of – as we think it will give Westfield and it’s customers a great open forum to discuss health matters – keep checking back here over the coming months and hopefully we will create a vibrant web space for all things Westfield & health related.

 PS… here is a link back to the new website that inspired this brand new blog – please let us know what you think!

http://www.westfieldhealth.com

PPS… A special thankyou to everyone that helped Keir and myself build the site (Tom and Andy in IT’s Web Dev team, Testing guys & all of the marketing team!)

Happy Blogging

 Hans (Westfield Web Design Team)