The Only National Awards For Non-Medical / Non-Clinical NHS Staff & Volunteers

Nomination

Award Category:

Volunteer of the year

Individual or Team Nomination?

Individual

Nominators Answer

Nominee's story :

Frimley Health NHS foundation Trust’s key objectives are to provide patients with the best care and experience we can offer to help them get back home as soon as possible. Our volunteers are imperative in improving patient experience across all our wards and units and are truly dedicated to their roles. A key area they offer this is in our Emergency Departments (ED). A place in which they are crucial in providing extra care and support for attendees and visitors. Andy has become an incredible asset to our Wexham Park Hospital team, offering support through conversations, comforting words, providing refreshments, and supporting the clinical team with tasks to enable them to focus on patients’ clinical needs. Andy has also grown and developed his role at Wexham Park Hospital. He now leads a team of volunteers working alongside our regular staff to provide care and comfort to a record-breaking number of patients who come through our ED’s. Andy goes above and beyond to provide a service that is really appreciated by patients. Often, it’s the little things like a comforting cup of tea or a nice conversation which makes an incredible difference to help someone feel more relaxed and at ease at an uncomfortable and stressful time. This is truly why Andy is so invaluable to us; he is a great volunteer himself, but also a fantastic example for the other volunteers at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust. During Covid, the Trust was inundated with offers of support and in receipt of thousands of donations from local companies and individuals. Many of these items were food items that needed to be distributed very quickly to staff within the hospital. Andy played a leading role for this task and became an “expert” in distributing many thousands of items across the hospital by coordinating other volunteers, maximising our equipment use and streamlining the whole process. The work that Andy and his teams did was incredibly welcomed by our staff and really raised morale during the most daunting and difficult times at the height of the Covid pandemic. Without Andy leading on this distribution, many of these items would have gone to waste and staff would never have received these glimmers of happiness that Andy facilitated. Andy makes a real impact in our ED whenever he volunteers. He improves the patient and visitor experience not only in ED, but throughout the hospital. In conclusion I would like to share a short note from the Head of Nursing, in our ED Department: “Andy improves the patient and visitor experience whenever he volunteers. He is enthusiastic and so very committed to helping everyone that he encounters. Nothing is too much trouble for him. He brings so much comfort to patients. His calm and approachable manner makes him an ideal volunteer for the busy ED environment. We would not want to be without Andy and his wonderful volunteering”