Let’s hail our NHS heroes: The Sun’s Who Cares Wins awards are wonderful opportunity to say thanks, says author Adam Kay
HE has made us laugh, and cry, with his hilarious and heart-warming anecdotes from his time as a hospital doctor.
Comedian and author Adam Kay’s 2017 bestselling memoir, This Is Going To Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor, laid bare the trials of working in the NHS and was recently adapted into a BBC series starring Ben Whishaw.
But while doctors are praised for saving lives, he says they could not do so without the help of other healthcare workers.
So below he calls on YOU to nominate these people for The Sun’s Who Cares Wins Awards and explains why this show of support means so much to them.
NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard tells how the annual awards – always attended by a galaxy of stars – have helped her colleagues through difficult times.
On the left are the categories you can nominate in, at the web address at the foot of the page.
But be quick – nominations will close at midnight on Tuesday.
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Nominate your NHS hero here
'Please join me'
BY ADAM KAY
WE often encounter healthcare staff in some of the most stressful times of our lives, and most of us forget to say thank you.
I still have and treasure every one of the cards that patients sent me over the years (there’s only about six of them — I wasn’t that good).
They didn’t just get me through tough days at work, they often got me through tough weeks and months, and made far more of a difference than the patients and families who sent them will ever know.
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I’m an extremely proud supporter of The Sun’s Who Cares Wins Awards, because they give a wonderful opportunity to say thank you to the people who went the extra mile and made a difference to you and your family, whatever the job description on their name badge.
They’re a chance to give something back in a special and unique way. Last year’s Who Cares Wins awards were hugely emotional, recognising the absolutely extraordinary lengths so many NHS staff had gone to, in an impossibly difficult year.
Something that particularly struck me was that these are awards that don’t just recognise doctors — they celebrate every single member of the health-care team, from physios to pharmacists, operating department practitioners to optometrists, and dieticians to district nurses.
I was also particularly struck by one award-winner, Barney Jones from Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. Mechanic Barney works for the East of England Ambulance Service, repairing their ambulances.
Throughout lockdown, he woke up at 4.30am every morning, and worked 14-hour days. He did this from Monday to Sunday, taking only a single day off work throughout the year.
Without Barney, the fleet of ambulances wouldn’t have been able to stay on the roads at such a crucial time.
Ambulance mechanics might not immediately spring to mind as people who save lives, but they absolutely do.
Every single member of NHS staff is a piece of the jigsaw, without whom the service would grind to a halt.
Adam Kay
Barney’s award was for Unsung Hero — and it just made me think a lot about the hundreds of thousands of unsung heroes who keep the NHS going every day.
Every single member of NHS staff is a piece of the jigsaw, without whom the service would grind to a halt.
No hospital can function without their kitchen staff, healthcare assistants and porters.
Brilliantly, most of the people attending the awards dinner and ceremony were frontline NHS staff, rather than celebrities.
No offence to my famous mates, but you get better chat round the table from a bunch of intensive care unit nurses.
Covid is not on the front pages like it was a year ago but it’s still very much present, and the pressures on NHS staff are still as great as ever.
Our windows might not have rainbows in them and we might not be banging pans on our door-steps, but it’s crucial we don’t forget the people who are working in our hospitals and GP practices, our ambulance stations and pharmacies, keeping the rest of us on the road.
Please join me in nominating a fantastic member of NHS staff for a Who Cares Wins award.
- Undoctored: The Story of a Medic Who Ran Out of Patients, by Adam Kay, will be published in September by Trapeze in hardback, audio and e-book.
‘HELP IN OUR DARKEST MOMENTS’
By AMANDA PRITCHARD
THE SUN’s Who Cares Wins Awards, celebrating some of the most caring and hardworking people across health and care, are a highlight in the NHS calendar.
From claps for carers to rainbows in windows, the support of Sun readers during the pandemic has helped to keep NHS staff going during the darkest moments.
As we pull out all the stops to address the Covid-19 backlogs, with the most ambitious catch-up programme in the health service’s history, it is wonderful to see that support continuing through the awards this year.
Patients and families are at the heart of what the NHS does, and these awards show appreciation for frontline staff as well as those working behind the scenes.
The past year has been no less difficult for our staff. They have experienced one of the toughest and busiest winters, with record numbers of ambulance callouts to life-threatening cases, millions of people coming to A&E for care and millions more phoning the NHS 111 helpline for advice.
Aided by volunteers and The Sun’s own Jabs Army volunteers, staff once again vaccinated the country at speed, to protect everyone from the Omicron variant.
This was all while carrying out as much routine treatment as possible for patients.
And we have had new challenges. In March, some of our clinicians started cancer treatment for children from the Ukraine, going above and beyond to help them in their greatest hour of need.
Above and beyond
So there is a lot to be celebrated through the upcoming awards. It was a privilege to have a ringside seat when The Sun shone a magnificent light on our healthcare heroes at last year’s star-studded event.
I have always been very proud to work for the NHS and never more so while hearing about the awards’ finalists. I sat with Unsung Hero and ambulance mechanic Barney Jones during the ceremony, recognised for keeping ambulances on the road during the pandemic.
People such as Barney and his team go above and beyond every day. From nurse Jackie Brunton, who helped Susan Ayrton make a final call to her dying dad, to 999 heroes Deena Evans and Michael Hipgrave, who kept each other alive after being stabbed by a knifeman, the stories sum up the lifechanging impact NHS staff have on the people they help.
It is their selfless commitment that kept services running throughout the pandemic, alongside rolling out the hugely successful NHS Covid-19 vaccination programme. And it is this unwavering commitment that will now see us through the challenges ahead.
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My thanks go to The Sun for organising these awards to recognise my fellow NHS staff in a way we could never do.
From nurses, doctors, therapists and pharmacists, to porters, cleaners and cooks – there are so many people who make the NHS what it is. If someone has made a difference to your life, you can thank them by nominating them today.
Who Cares Wins Awards
THE Sun’s Who Cares Wins Awards is back – and we need YOU to nominate your health heroes.
Our annual awards, in partnership with NHS Charities Together, honour the extraordinary people that keep our health service running, from cleaners to porters, nurses to doctors and paramedics.
And this year we have another extra special awards night planned.
So if there is someone who has helped you or your family who deserves recognition for their incredible work, this is your chance to say thank you.
Nominations should be for help you have received in the past 12 months, unless it is for an individual’s hard work over many years.
The closing date for entries is July 12 this year.
The categories are:
- Best Doctor - an NHS doctor - GP, hospital doctor or consultant
- Best Midwife - an NHS midwife who has provided great care for a woman or her baby
- Best Team - any NHS or healthcare team on the frontline and behind the scenes that has gone above and beyond the call of duty
- Best Nurse - an NHS nurse in any field
- Best Health Charity - a health charity which has helped you or a loved one
- Unsung Hero - do you know a friend or a person who gives up their time to volunteer at a health charity, hospital, hospice or similar?
- Young Hero - it could be a carer or a campaigner or something else. Open to anyone under the age of 18
- Mental Health Hero - for significant contribution to mental health
- 999 Hero - An emergency services worker, team or member of the public performed an emergency rescue, operation or similar
