Record nominations for care trust's You’re A Star Awards

A total of 113 individuals and teams – in both clinical and non-clinical roles – as well as volunteers, carers and service users are up for honours in the Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust You’re A Star Awards.

The number of nominations – which have been submitted from across Bradford, Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven – is more than 60 per cent up on last year.

They include a pilot scheme to improve support for people experiencing a mental health crisis; a clinic’s use of ‘foot selfies’ to help triage patients with diabetic foot ulcers; volunteer marshals at a Covid-19 testing site; a district nursing team which provides vital out-of-hours care; a ‘young involvement partner’ who helps the trust recruit staff; a home-visiting team which has been supporting vulnerable patients, families and carers throughout the pandemic, and carers who provide support for other carers.

Members of the public as well as trust staff were invited to nominate individuals or teams they felt should be recognised for their work and achievements.

The awards, now in their 17th year, cover six categories – service user, carer and volunteer contributions; improvements and innovation; team of the year; working together; non-clinical star/s and unsung hero.

This year there is also a special one-off ‘Covid Award’, for an individual or team who have gone “above and beyond” to ensure services continued to be provided in support of communities during the pandemic. And three winners will be chosen from monthly recipients of trust Living our Values awards.

Staff nominees are from across a wide range of disciplines and include speech and language therapists, out-of-hospital support teams, community dentistry, podiatrists, the child and adolescent mental health service, specialist palliative care services, psychologists, occupational therapists, healthcare assistants and support workers, district nurses and immunisation teams.

Winners in each category of the You’re A Star Awards, sponsored by Bradford-based Sovereign Healthcare, will receive £750 to support their ongoing work benefitting patients.

Paul Hogg, the carae trust's director of corporate affairs

Paul Hogg, the care trust’s director of corporate affairs, said: “We celebrated a record number of nominations last year, but to be up by more than sixty per cent on that is unprecedented – although not entirely unexpected.

“We know how tirelessly staff have worked throughout the pandemic, coming-up with all sorts of innovative and creative ways to ensure we could continue to deliver services, as well as supporting each other through such challenging times. It’s fitting that colleagues and people in the communities we serve want to recognise those individuals and teams who have made such a massive difference this year.

“Staff working quietly behind the scenes in non-clinical roles, who have been described as ‘the glue that hold departments together’, have also been nominated – as have volunteers who have continued to give their time freely despite the pandemic, often to give something back after receiving outstanding care from the trust, as well as carers, young involvement partners and community health champions.”

He added: “Judging may take a little longer this year as we consider all the entries, but I’m excited to see it get started so we can announce our shortlist of finalists and prepare a fitting online awards ceremony in the summer.”

Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health, community, learning disability and children’s services.

For details, visit bdct.nhs.uk.