Heroes of Banbury's Horton General Hospital - including children's consultant and volunteer porter - are in line for awards

The Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) Staff Recognition Awards have ten categories for the awards which will be presented on July 6 – a day after the 75th birthday of the NHS. Horton staff and teams have finalists in four categories.

Simon Thomas, former Blue Peter and Sky Sports presenter and President of the national charity Blood Cancer UK, will host the ceremony at Oxford Town Hall.

More than 1,800 nominations were received for the 2023 awards - teams, individuals, volunteers, and fundraisers were nominated and the finalists announced in May.

The Banbury finalists are firstly Karl Thompson, for the Oxford Hospitals Charity Award for Supporter or Volunteer of the Year award.

Mr Thompson has been volunteering for the Horton Radiology Team as a porter for several years. During this time he has supported the Horton Radiology porters through long term sickness and unfulfilled job vacancies.

“His witty sense of humour helps keep everyone's spirits up. He always arrives at work with a smile, never complains about the long list of patients,” says his nominator. “The work is extremely physical and even with a bad hip, Karl has continued to support the department, putting others’ needs before his own.”

“He saw how staff had been affected at the height of Covid and generously offered his garden and music room for an ‘ending of covid restrictions’ party, including entertainment, which the whole department thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated after everything they'd been through.

"Karl also cleaned up the Radiology patio for staff to have an environment they could relax in - with furniture, plants and flowers - all of which he did in his own time and at his own expense.

“Without Karl we wouldn't be able to image the amount of patients we do each day, especially during the time we had unfulfilled vacancies and with recent long term sickness within the portering team. Nothing is too much trouble for Karl - he always goes above and beyond...

"He helps keep morale in the team up and is encouraging and supportive to his colleagues when they are feeling low.”

Next is Justin Sims, consultant paediatrician, who is a finalist for the Patients' Choice Award.

His nominator said: “Until you have experienced a new-born suffering from milk allergy and severe reflux, you do not know how much heartache a mother can experience.

"Lucie was my second child, born with severe reflux like her sister. I knew the diagnosis at GP level was going to be difficult. I ended up on the children's ward after the GP thought I was a neurotic mum and Dr Sims entered the room, calm, patient, understanding and non judgemental.

“We were followed by him for two years (during which) the medication would occasionally need to be adjusted as Lucie got bigger. I was asked to email Dr Sims a couple of times; he had always offered to help,” said the mother.

"Once he was on holidays and he replied and copied a colleague to get us a prescription. Doctors are so stretched but he has always been there for us; he was a lifeline and saved my mental health. His manners, his knowledge, his candidness when he doesn't know - and his lovely outfits and caps - just made the experience better.

“Dr Sims is no doubt dedicated to all his patients – we are one of thousands. One day he said to me, my first patient turned 18 and I can no longer look after him as he is an adult now. It makes me sad.

The Horton Hospital Endoscopy Booking Team is up for the Award for Excellence.

The Horton Hospital Endoscopy Booking Team has worked tirelessly to achieve excellent list utilisation rates. This was recognised in a commendation on achieving such high attendance rates and low ‘did not reattend’ rates.

The admin team make sure each patient is contacted prior to booking and also make courtesy calls two days prior to appointments to confirm attendance. The team went above and beyond during postal strikes. Bowel preparation was delivered to patients’ houses on their way home from work often going out of their way to do so. Lists were still fully utilised and patients didn't miss out on any appointments and delay in treatment/diagnosis, alleviating anxiety for patients.

The team explains each procedure fully to the patient so they understand what will happen. This reduces cancellation rates. Their efforts have been recognised on the Friends and Family Feedback for the department.

Horton therapy team are finalists in the Award for Respect category.

The Horton therapy team, covering A&E, the medical wards and critical care unit, work tirelessly to meet the needs of patients during crisis points, acute medical illness and social admissions. They have worked especially hard in the past year while repeatedly being under escalated pressure and during very hot summers. Each worked hard to ensure patients were treated with respect, dignity and value.

"The physios work so hard to cover the mobility and respiratory needs of patients; the Occupational Therpists are amazing at considering all the different daily activities people need to do and the therapy assistants work tirelessly to get alongside patients with equipment and rehabilitation needs,” said the team’s nomination.

"There is a real spirit of advocacy throughout the team too, always wanting to make sure patients' voices are heard in any and every decision regarding their care. They are passionate about promoting independence and finding ways of helping patient's achieve their goal.”

To see detail of all award nominations visit the OUH website.