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Nominations for our UHN Excellence Awards 2025 are now open!
Take a moment to shine a light on someone special. Whether it’s a University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN) colleague, team, volunteer or fundraiser. If you know someone who has gone the extra mile and made a real difference for patients or colleagues, nominate them for one of our excellence awards.
Celebrating our excellent colleagues and volunteers
The University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN) Excellence Awards recognise individuals and teams who positively impact patient care and hospital operations, whether they work, volunteer, or fundraise.
If a colleague or team has provided exceptional care to you or a loved one, or consistently exceeds expectations, we encourage you to nominate them for the recognition they deserve.
Nominations close at 23:59 on Sunday 17 August. Names of those individuals and teams shortlisted will be published before our celebratory event, which will be held on Wednesday 26 November 2025.
Take a look at our fabulous winners from 2024 and 2023 to help inspire you with this year’s nominations.
Thank you to the Northamptonshire Health Charity for their continued support for the event.
When completing the nomination form please think about how your nominee demonstrates our values Respect, Compassion, Accountability, Integrity and Courage.
Top tips for writing a good awards submission.
Submit your nomination here
Below are the 9 categories and the judging criteria.
UHN Excellence Awards 2025 Categories
Have you, a loved one or family member received excellent care from a colleague or team at University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN), based at either Kettering (KGH), Northampton (NGH) hospitals or one of their off-site locations?
This is your chance to tell us about the people who have made a difference through the care or kindness they have given. Judges will be looking for individuals or teams for whom nothing is too much trouble, who provide consistently great care or service, treat others with kindness and respect, and are a shining light and an example to others
We are looking for examples of:
- High-quality care received from our compassionate, excellent, and dedicated team members who went above and beyond to care for you.
- If someone made you feel listened to, well cared for and who showed kindness and respect.
- Those unsung heroes who quietly do exceptional work and have done something special or incredible to make the experience of being a patient or a visitor to one of our hospitals a bit easier.
- How the individual or team demonstrates and promotes a culture of compassion, equality, diversity and inclusion for patients, colleagues or the wider community.
Many colleagues make a huge contribution every day but they may not always be seen. These colleagues are critical to delivering healthcare services and ensuring patients can access the services they need. Whether they are looking after our buildings and facilities, staffing our reception areas, keeping our supplies well stocked, making sure our processes and clinics run smoothly, transporting patients, providing fresh food or keeping our hospital clean, everyone plays a role.
Judges will be looking for examples of:
- An individual who has done something extraordinary to make a difference to University Hospital of Northamptonshire.
- An individual who has been a true inspiration to others and who you see as a hospital hero.
- How the individual or team demonstrates and promotes a culture of compassion, equality, diversity and inclusion for patients, colleagues or the wider community.
Individuals across University Hospitals of Northamptonshire make a huge contribution to the service we provide every day. This award celebrates an individual who has led the way – this could be setting an example of how to work collaboratively, consistently achieving excellent operational performance or overcoming a number of challenges to still provide an excellent experience for patient. The judges would like to recognise individuals in a clinical role who have improved a patient’s experience.
Judges will be looking for examples of:
- How the individual developed themselves as a role model to provide the best care for patients or supporting colleagues.
- How an individual who goes above and beyond to consistently play their part to improve the hospital.
- How they respect other people’s views, experiences, and skills with a commitment to their professional or personal development.
- How the individual or team demonstrates and promotes a culture of compassion, equality, diversity and inclusion for patients, colleagues or the wider community.
Many teams make a huge contribution every day. This award celebrates a team who have led the way across University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN) – this could be setting an example of how to work collaboratively as a cohesive team, consistently achieving excellent operational performance or overcoming a number of challenges to still provide an excellent experience for patients.
Judges will be looking for examples of:
- Teams working well together to develop themselves as role models and to provide the best care for patients or supporting colleagues.
- The difference and impact a team has made to you.
- How they respect other people’s views, experiences, and skills with a commitment to the team’s health and wellbeing and professional or personal development.
- How the team demonstrates and promotes a culture of compassion, equality, diversity and inclusion for patients, colleagues or the community.
Many teams make a huge contribution every day, but they may not always be seen. Whether they are looking after our buildings and facilities, staffing our reception areas, keeping our supplies well stocked, making sure our processes and clinics run smoothly, transporting patients, providing fresh food or keeping our hospital clean, everyone plays a role. This award celebrates a team who has led the way across University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN) – this could be setting an example of how to work collaboratively as a cohesive team, consistently achieving excellent operational performance, or overcoming a number of challenges to still provide an excellent experience for patient.
Judges will be looking for examples of:
- Teams working well together to develop themselves as role models and to provide the best care for patients or supporting colleagues.
- The difference and impact a team has made to you.
- How they respect other people’s views, experiences, and skills with a commitment to the team’s health and wellbeing and professional or personal development.
- How the team demonstrates and promotes a culture of compassion, equality, diversity and inclusion for patients, colleagues or the community.
Recognising a team or individual who has implemented new research, an innovative idea or an improvement project which has resulted in improved practice, better outcomes, or a more efficient way of working for service users, colleagues, or stakeholders. They may have been involved with clinical or research trials, introduced a new approach to their area or taken part in an innovative improvement project to make our hospitals a better place for patients, visitors, and colleagues.
Judges will be looking for examples of:
- How they've helped to implement improvements, championed and supported patients or colleagues through research studies or found a solution to a problem to make things better.
- What difference has been made from implementing these projects or ideas to a diverse range of patients, colleagues, or stakeholders.
- How the individual or team demonstrates and promotes a culture of compassion, equality, diversity and inclusion for patients, colleagues or the community.
Recognise someone who demonstrates empathy, understanding, and support towards their colleagues. This involves actively listening, offering help, and fostering a culture where colleagues feel valued and supported. This can be peer to peer or through compassionate leadership.
Judges will be looking for examples of:
- How the individual has shown empathy and understanding; checking in on colleagues and actively listened to concerns.
- How the individual has provided practical solutions, support with tasks or workload.
- How the individual has created opportunities for individuals or team members to connect and support each other.
- How the individual demonstrates and promotes a culture of compassion, equality, diversity and inclusion for patients, colleagues or the community.
We want to celebrate the contribution made by the hundreds of people who give their time for free. From those who volunteer across our hospitals, including radio stations, ward volunteers, meeting and greeting patients or visitors, buggy drivers, and staff wellbeing across University Hospitals of Northamptonshire.
Judges will be looking for examples of:
- A volunteer who goes above and beyond to brighten the lives of patients and visitors, carers and also our colleagues.
- A volunteer who has had a positive impact on delivering services and those little extra touches that couldn’t be provided without their support - for example our buggy or brew buddy initiative.
- How the individual demonstrates and promotes a culture of compassion, equality, diversity and inclusion for patients, colleagues or the community.
Celebrating those individuals and teams who have made a difference to the University Hospitals of Northamptonshire by supporting fund raising in aid of Northamptonshire Health Charity. These are people who have helped by raising the profile of a specific event, fundraising campaign, or increasing an awareness of the Northamptonshire Health Charity
Judges will be looking for examples of:
- People who champion and recognise the value of Northamptonshire Health Charity.
- Those who have supported, fundraised, or done something incredible for the charity to make University Hospitals of Northamptonshire a better place for patients or our colleagues.
How the individual demonstrates and promotes a culture of compassion, equality, diversity and inclusion for patients, colleagues or the community.
Submit your nomination
Nominations close at 23:59 on Sunday 17 August. Names of those individuals and teams shortlisted will be published before our celebratory event , which will be held on Wednesday 26 November 2025.
Submit your nomination here
Tips for writing a good Excellence Award nomination
Nominating one of our colleagues or volunteers for an award is a great way to recognise their achievements and the support they've given to you or your loved ones.
We have a word limit for nominations of 400 words, so it’s important to make your nomination stand out.
Below, we've put together some tips to help make your award nomination submission the best it can be.
- Think about who you want to nominate and why- try to note down the key points before you start writing the nomination.
- Get to know the category you are nominating the individual for. These are all listed with a brief explanation. Make sure you are nominating your colleague, volunteer, or team for the correct category.
- If you're not sure on which category they fit into, write your nomination first and then go back to see which category suits their achievements.
- Keep your explanation simple and think about the who, what, where, when and why’s. Tell us why they deserve the nomination and about the difference they have made.
- Where possible link your nomination back to our values and explain how the person or team demonstrated these values in their work. Please also think about how they have demonstrated equality and inclusion in the workplace.
- Write in an easy-to-understand language. Try to avoid acronyms and make sure it's clear for someone who doesn't know the individual to understand.
- Think about the evidence you can give in your nomination and how you can justify your points. Try not to repeat information or phrases.
- Write your submission and then edit it to make sure the key points are covered. It's always good to ask someone else to read the nomination before you submit it.
- Avoid phrases such as they're a smiley person or they're good at their job - these don't tell us how they've made a difference. Try finding meaningful words in your nomination like determine, respectful, inspirational, teamwork, motivating, empowering.
- Phrases such as driving for constant improvement, problem solving mindset and overcoming barriers are all impactful ways to explain your nominee and what that have achieved.
- Don't use the same nomination for multiple people. Make them unique and they are more likely to be noticed.
Previous Excellence Awards Winners
Excellence Awards Winners 2024
An awards event was held on Thursday, September 26, 2024 to celebrate the achievements of some of the amazing colleagues, volunteers, and fundraisers, from University Hospitals of Northamptonshire, made up of Kettering and Northampton general hospitals.
Read more about NHS staff, volunteers and fundraisers who have received awards in 2024.
Excellence Awards Winners 2023
An awards event was held on Thursday, March 16, 2023 to celebrate the achievements of some of the amazing colleagues, volunteers, and fundraisers, from Kettering and Northampton general hospitals.
Read more about NHS staff, volunteers and fundraisers who have received awards in 2023.