UHA Blog
Celebrating the hidden heroes in the NHS family
16th May 2022Guest Blog by Justin Hall, Director, Non-Clinical Recruitment, NHS Professionals Doctors, nurses and other clinical staff are often the first thing people think of when they think of the NHS – and for good reason. They save and transform lives and that’s enough to make them the heroes of the NHS in most people’s eyes….

Sheila Bekoe Admin & Clerical Winner 2021
9th March 2022In our final interview of our 2021 Winners Series, we speak with Sheila Bekoe, Admin & Clerical Winner based at Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust. We ask Sheila how her daily working life changed during the Pandemic, how she got involved with Charity work with struggling BAME families in Greater Manchester, her role in the…

Lauren Eyers Apprentice of the Year Winner 2021
23rd February 2022Following on from National Apprenticeship Week celebrations earlier this month, we interview Lauren Eyers from Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, who won for Apprentice of the Year at the 2021 Unsung Hero Awards. Lauren talks to us about successfully completing her Apprenticeship Scheme, the resilience showed by her during the Pandemic, her role as Mentor to…

Paula Betterton Estates & Ancillary Winner 2021
9th February 2022This week we talk with Paula Betterton from West London NHS who won for Estates & Ancillary at the 2021 Unsung Hero Awards. Paula talks to us about her stand-out achievements during the time of Covid, as well as the additional duties that she took on. We also find out what winning an Unsung Hero…

Sabir Hussain Public Choice Winner 2021
26th January 2022Continuing on our 2021 Winner Interview series, we talk with Sabir Hussain from British Asian Radio who won for Public Choice at the 2021 Unsung Hero Awards. Sabir talks about his 26 years in the music industry, how his involvement in governmental work has helped disabled and underprivileged youth, how his loyalty to the NHS saw him put forward…

Catriona Rowland Mental Wellness Champion Winner 2021
5th January 2022Happy New year! To kick off 2022 in style, we are chatting to Catriona Rowland from Barts Health NHS Trust who won for Mental Wellness Champion at the 2021 Unsung Hero Awards in November. Catriona speaks on what being shortlisted for an Unsung Hero Award meant to her, what her role as a Mental Health…

Colin Ogden Volunteer of the Year Winner 2021
17th December 2021Following on from our interview with Gemma Grimes, Head of Employee Relations at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, we interview Colin Ogden, our 2021 winner of Volunteer of the Year from North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust. Colin spoke on how Covid-19 changed his driving role, recalled stand-out stories from the many…

Corporate Services 2021 Winners HR Operations Team
7th December 2021We caught up recently with Gemma Grimes (@gemma_nhshr), Head of Employee Relations at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, whose team won for Corporate Services at the 2021 Unsung Hero Awards. Gemma kindly let us interview her on behalf of the team, so we could dig deeper into why the team were shortlisted, and…

The Awards that nearly never were!
19th November 2021Last Friday marked the 2021 Awards at the Marriott V&A Hotel in Manchester. A venue that we had only been connected to for around five hours as our guests started to arrive. In fact, the 2021 Awards had been booked months in advance to take place at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in…

Room 2 Reward back supporting NHS Volunteers in 2021
29th October 2021We welcome a guest blog from Joe Langtree, Operations Director for charity Room to Reward, who have partnered with the Unsung Hero Awards since 2019, offering hotel stays for our shortlisted volunteers and winners. We are grateful to have them back on board for 2021, so we can continue to give even more back to…

The 2021 Unsung Hero Awards – A Night at the Museum!
1st October 2021“These are really special people, and recognition is good for everybody…” Amanda Piper, Housekeeper, East London NHS Foundation Trust and 2019 Winner for Estates & Ancillary. The Unsung Hero Awards (UHA) are the only National Awards for Non-Medical / Non-Clinical NHS Staff and Volunteers who go above and beyond the call of duty. The Awards…

2021 Shortlisted
27th August 2021We have now posted our 2021 Shortlist and the UHA Team are positively over-whelmed at the many stories we have read regaling the passion and the dedication of the hundreds of individuals and teams nominated via the site since May. However, of all those nominated, the nominators behind our 32 shortlisted must be extra proud…
