UHA Blog
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…

Now with only one week to go before nominations for 2021 close, we take a final look into standout entries for our Non-Medical / Non-Clinical NHS superstars for 2021! For confidentiality reasons, names of nominees will not be given, alongside no mention of the Trust. The focus for the UHA Team, who have been reading…

Standout Nominations 2021: Round Three!
18th June 2021Three weeks to go before nominations for 2021 close, we take a third look into standout entries for our Non-Medical / Non-Clinical NHS superstars for 2021! For confidentiality reasons, names of nominees will not be given, alongside no mention of the Trust. The focus for the UHA Team, who have been reading and pre-sorting every…

The UHA Bee – making a ‘Buzz’ across the North West….
11th June 2021On Tuesday 8th of June we said “goodbye” temporarily to our mascot at the Unsung Hero Awards (UHA) – our Baby Bee. It flew away to Salford Royal NHS FT, where it will be on display for around the next six months in the main reception. The Bee has long been the symbol of the…

Standout Nominations 2021: Round Two!
4th June 2021Close to a month of nominations being open, we take a second look into standout entries for our Non-Medical / Non-Clinical NHS superstars for 2021! For confidentiality reasons, names of nominees will not be given, alongside no mention of the Trust. The focus for the UHA Team, who have been reading and pre-sorting every nomination…

Volunteering in the NHS
1st June 2021NHS Volunteers have always made a huge contribution to our health and wellbeing, giving their time, skills and expertise freely each year to support services across the country. They play a crucial part in the NHS’s vision for the future of health and social care, working in partnership with staff members to deliver the best…

Standout Nominations 2021: Round One!
21st May 2021With nominations now open for close to two weeks, and the Unsung Hero Awards receiving more nominations in one week than in previous years (!!), there are some amazing stories to share… For confidentiality reasons, names of nominees will not be given, alongside no mention of the Trust. The focus for the UHA Team, who…
