On a normal day of the week, The WOW! Awards are a national award system that recognise outstanding customer service. Hampshire Hospitals staff can be nominated for an award by their colleagues, patients or visitors, with a handful of winners selected by the trust’s public governors each month – we’ve used this long-standing prestige for something a little bit different.
We wanted to say thank you to all of the children of our staff who have done such a brilliant job in supporting us over the last few months, by giving them a special WOW! Award for being an amazing NHS helper. Nominations were open for submission from all of our clinical and non-clinical staff at team HHFT and we had well over 700 submissions from staff across our sites, all of which were honoured and either posted or made available for collection with an optional sweet treat.
Made up of a personalised letter from Alex Whitfield, chief executive of Hampshire Hospitals, and a named certificate produced by the WOW! Awards employee recognition programme, the awards have gone down a treat with children of our staff. Feedback from one staff member said “Thank you HHFT for our son's WOW award. It's not been easy for him during COVID, especially with most of his family working at BNHH, including both of his parents.” Another noted “Receiving a WOW Award today made my son a little teary. Thank you so much for the lovely letter #madehisday”.
Of the initiative, Alex Whitfield said: “All of our staff have gone above and beyond in responding to COVID-19, and continue to do so as we work towards restoration and a busy winter period. We have heard countless stories of the fantastic support that families have offered throughout this time and wanted to recognise the important part they continue to play. We hope to welcome some of our smaller NHS helpers to team HHFT in the future!”
Bianca Talbot, Chief Executive of The WOW! Awards said: “Everyone working in the NHS has done an absolutely incredible job in the care they have provided to our communities during this pandemic. But those individuals could not have achieved all that they have without the support of their families, friends and loved ones. We are so proud to be working with 
Hampshire Hampshire NHS Foundation Trust in their campaign to recognise and thank those who have supported our essential front line workers.”
Following the fantastic reception of this initiative, a second round of nominations is planned to offer the opportunity to those that may have missed the first round.
