This is your opportunity to show you care about the hospital team who have looked after your or your loved ones… East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust’s annual awards, covering the Lister, QEII and Hertford County hospitals, as well as the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre are now open for nominations.

Each year the Trust’s staff awards celebrate the achievements and hard work of its staff. This year it will include a public nomination category.

Commenting on the awards, the Trust’s chief executive, Nick Carver, said:

“We started this category last year because we felt our patients and their families would like the opportunity to let the teams caring for them know how they feel about the care and commitment they receive.  The response was superb and the winning teams valued their awards more highly because their nominations came from members of the public.”

“There are no set criteria for this award as we know that it is not always what someone said or did – but how they made their patients feel that is important.”

People can nominate an individual or a team. It might be for something specific they did to help them or it could be for how a member of staff treated them, which made them feel better. For example a friendly receptionist who always makes people feel welcome or a nurse who held their hand when they needed it most.

Nominations are open from now to 14 September 2012. The awards are taking place on 15 November 2012.

Nominating someone is easy – just email arc.enh-tr@nhs.net or post to Staff Awards, HR Department, Lister Hospital, Corey’s Mill Lane, Stevenage SG1 4AB.

Entries should include the name of the individual or team, which hospital they work in and why they should win. The name, address and phone number of the person making the nomination should be included in case they need to be contacted for more information.