INSPIRATIONAL staff from the NHS have been praised for their hard work at an awards ceremony.

The dedication of dozens of individuals and teams from the Basingstoke-based Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was acknowledged at a presentation event for those who won WOW! awards between April and October.

Staff can be nominated in a variety of categories including patient safety, customer care, above and beyond, innovation and environmental and sustainability and productivity.

Nominations for the awards are made by colleagues and the public and these are presented to the trust’s council of governors, who then choose the winners.

Colin Richards, who has worked in the Emergency Department for 11 years, was delighted to scoop a customer care award.

He told The Gazette: “I won this award for helping a patient in resuscitation who was not in an appropriate condition to go on a ward until they had further care. The patient’s relative had concerns about him going on to a ward and I remember his relative saying that me keeping calm helped him to keep calm.”

Phlebotomy team manager Jenny Dykes was the clear winner for her Above and Beyond award having been nominated by seven people.

Delighted Mrs Dykes, who has worked for the NHS for 46 years, told The Gazette: “I love my job! I was really chuffed because I was nominated by the team, and I was really pleased about that.”

Integrated ante natal and screening lead Hilary Goodman, praised her team after winning a customer care award.

She said: “The number of awards we have received over the last year is fantastic. It is fantastic that people give us the feedback so we know that we are doing a good thing.”

Chairman of the Foundation Trust Elizabeth Padmore told the staff: “This is one of the most fun parts of the job. The WOW! awards give us the opportunity to celebrate the fantastic care and dedication of our staff to our patients.”

Derek Williams, founder of the WOW! Awards, said: “We see lots of nominations coming through from all sorts of jobs from security, nursing, doctors and others for doing great things over the years. Congratulations to you as an organisation and you should be very proud of what you have achieved.”

Individual winners for October included a Customer Care award for Krissie Barlow from Ward E1, Above and Beyond awards for Nisha Wild, from the Women’s Health Unit, and Jo Carter, clinical services lead, and a Customer Care award for Natasha Kensley, from the Delivery Suite. The Critical Care department received an Above and Beyond award and a Patient Safety award. The Intensive Care and High Dependency Unit was also given a Patient Safety award.