{"id":1380,"date":"2025-05-20T14:09:44","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T13:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/jenny-vaughan-memorial-prize-winner\/"},"modified":"2025-05-20T14:09:44","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T13:09:44","slug":"jenny-vaughan-memorial-prize-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/jenny-vaughan-memorial-prize-winner\/","title":{"rendered":"Jenny Vaughan Memorial Prize winner"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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The winner of the inaugural Jenny Vaughan Memorial Prize is Dr Neena Jha.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

DAUK asked for creative submissions that embodied Learn Not Blame, which Dr Vaughan advocated for in the NHS.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Dr Jha, a GP based in Hertfordshire, won the prize for her poem Who failed them? <\/em>which is available to read below.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Jenny Vaughan Memorial Prize<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Dr Jha was presented with her prize by Dr Vaughan\u2019s husband, Matt Dunckley, at DAUK\u2019s conference in London on Saturday. She receives \u00a3450.<\/p>\r\n

She said: “Thank you so much to the DAUK for organising a fantastic event and giving us the opportunity to talk about an issue that affects all of us health care workers in the NHS.”<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Another entry for the Jenny Vaughan Memorial Prize, a long-read essay by Dr Adesh Ajmani, is available to read on our Substack<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Please support our work by joining DAUK<\/a> or donating to our GoFundMe<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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 <\/p>\r\n

Who failed them?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The bleeps keep coming, one by one,
No space to rest, no job feels done.
A constant battle- which call to take?
Which soul to save? Which one must wait?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I\u2019m firefighting, no-one else but me,
Alone on a rota where there should be three.
Yet when the worst comes true and tragedy lands,
They ask why blood is on my hands.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The headlines point, they scream my name,
A scapegoat held up to take the blame.
They write, \u201cThe doctor should be condemned\u201d
But they never ask, \u201cWho failed them?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We saw the risks, we warned, we cried,
But they turned us away, cast out fears aside.
\u201cMore staff, more funds – lives are at stake!\u201d
Yet they ignored us, chose to look away.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWork with less\u201d, they shrugged, \u201cthere\u2019s nothing we can do\u201d
\u201cJust try your best – we believe in you.\u201d
Their words ring hollow as lives are lost,
Then it\u2019s my name they sacrifice, at any cost.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

They lie, say the mistakes are mine,
Ignoring the flaws in the wider design.
How do we prevent this? How do we learn?
When cracks are ignored and whistleblowers spurned?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

No more blame \u2013 I will not bear
The weight of those who did not care.
Change must come, it must start now,
Not with empty words, but with a vow-<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

To learn, to listen, to grow without shame,
Not for one to take a system\u2019s blame.
With real change in this time of need,
We have spoken enough – let actions lead.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Dr Neena Jha<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The winner of the inaugural Jenny Vaughan Memorial Prize is Dr Neena Jha. DAUK asked for creative submissions that embodied Learn Not Blame, which Dr…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,92],"tags":[433,40,692,697],"class_list":["post-1380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dauk-news","category-learn-not-blame","tag-conference","tag-dr-jenny-vaughan","tag-dr-jenny-vaughan-conference","tag-dr-neena-jha"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}