Individuals and teams working to address health inequalities, identify mouth cancer early, advocate for children in care or with special needs, support patients in the community, connect mental health patients with nature, and care for people in their final weeks of life, were amongst the award winners at Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust’s You’re a Star Awards 2024.

Hosted by TV presenter Tanya Arnold at the Mercure Bankfield Hotel, Bradford on Thursday 3 October, the awards recognised clinical and non-clinical staff, service users, carers and volunteers who have demonstrated outstanding care and innovative improvements over the last 12 months.

The Care Trust’s Chief Executive Therese Patten and Kauser Mukhtar, Community Programme Co-ordinator with Sovereign Health Care, which has sponsored the You’re a Star Awards for many years, presented the first award of the evening to Sharon Walker from the Oral Health team. Her Working Together award recognised a new approach to delivering the annual Mouth Cancer Action campaign which resulted in over 400 screenings and 18 urgent referrals.

Deputy Director of Estates and Facilities Shane Embleton and sponsor Rhodar Industries’ Director of Client Services Darren Payne presented the Service User, Carer and Volunteer Contribution award to Chris Rollings. She has volunteered on a mental health inpatient ward for three years and willingly gives her time to support recovery through nature walks and other activities.

Fourteen You’re a Star Awards were presented in total, including separate Team of the Year, Teammate of the Year and Unsung Hero awards for Community Health Services, Community Children’s Services, Mental Health Services and Corporate Services. Three Living our Values awards were also presented to people who embody the Trust’s values – We Care, We Listen, We Deliver.

Pharmacy Technician, Patsy Bamber who administers medicines and supports patients to stay independent and healthy in the community, including training people to self-administer insulin, received the Unsung Hero award for adult physical Community Health Services.  Another Unsung Hero was Jess Green who is Health Lead in a busy school and nursery, working to ensure children with complex health needs and disabilities have their needs met.

Team of the Year is always a popular category for nominations. Receiving the award for Mental Health Services Team of the Year were staff at the Najurally Centre, a specialist assessment and treatment unit for adults with moderate to severe learning disabilities and mental health problems, whose needs cannot be supported elsewhere.

The Trust’s Energy, Waste and Sustainability Team won the Corporate Services Team of the Year category for their work to drive change, reduce waste and energy consumption. and improve the environment. The Paediatric Speech and Language Therapy team, who have made specialist support more accessible and significantly improved the experience for children and families, won the Community Children’s Services Team of the Year category

The Proactive Care Team also won a Team of the Year award, for adult physical Community Health Services. The multidisciplinary team works collaboratively with the wider health, social and voluntary sector to reduce health inequalities within the most deprived areas of Bradford. Their innovative, patient-centred approach to supporting local people with the most complex health needs has delivered a 41 per cent reduction in A&E attendance. On Monday 14 October the team will discover if they have also won a Parliamentary Award, having been shortlisted after nomination by Naz Shah MP for Bradford West.

Each month Trust staff nominate their colleagues for a Living our Values award and from the monthly winners an overall winner for We Care, We Listen and We Deliver was chosen. Senior Community Nurse Annmarie Lobley and Healthcare Support Worker Kelly Kerin won We Care for demonstrating caring in action when they stopped to assist and support a distressed woman on a bypass, helping the police to bring her to safety.

Facilities Coordinator Dawn Storey who supports inpatient housekeeping staff at Lynfield Mount Hospital and Airedale Centre for Mental Health won We Listen for both listening and taking action to support menopausal staff.  And Lynfield Mount Hospital’s Learning Disability Activities Coordinator Rebekah Blundell won We Deliver for activities that promote togetherness and have a positive impact on both patients and staff.

Commenting on the You’re a Star Awards 2024, Care Trust Chief Executive Therese Patten said: “It was lovely to be able to get together in person for the first time since 2019 to celebrate our You’re a Star awards and congratulate our winners, finalists and nominees.

“Our award recipients have truly demonstrated that for them working at the Trust is never ‘just a job’. They have run with a challenge, got projects off the ground in and around their everyday work, overcome obstacles and worked with others to improve services, meet changing needs and address health inequalities. Well done to all our winners.”

Each winner received an award, a hamper and £300 to support their ongoing work to benefit patients and service users, made possible by the kind support of sponsors Sovereign Health Care and Rhodar Industries.

Neil McCallum, Chief Executive of Sovereign Health Care said: “I was enormously impressed to hear about the extraordinary work carried out by Care Trust employees and to be able to reward You’re a Star Awards winners for the difference they are making to individuals and communities right across Bradford District, Craven, Airedale and Wharfedale. We’re very pleased and proud to support the awards.”