HOSPITAL staff have received a top award after being recognised for their excellent standard of care.

Staff at Halstead Hospital were recognised for the achievement and presented with a gold care and compassion award, the highest in its category, at Provide’s annual awards ceremony, which celebrates the achievements of staff and volunteers.

Staff were nominated for the award by service users and 48 members of staff also received educational achievement awards, along with another seven members of staff who received long service awards for over 25 years of service to Provide and the NHS.

Provide’s chairman, Derrick Louis said: “It is a great privilege to be the chairman of an organisation that has such innovative and committed members of staff and so many outstanding volunteers.

"These annual awards enable us to celebrate their many achievements and successes and to thank those who have worked so tirelessly for the health and care sector.

"This year we had a large number of entries for the care and compassion awards and this is a particularly important category for Provide as services and individuals are nominated for these awards by our patients, clients and carers.

"My congratulations to the staff at Halstead Ward, the comments people made showed how much they appreciated the thoughtful, kind and caring way they had been treated and how vital this support was to them."

Some of the nominating comments people made regarding the staff on Halstead ward were: "The staff are dedicated to the care of the patients."

"The care was excellent, lovely nurses, nothing was too much trouble."

"Their kindness and care was exceptional, they helped my mum to get back on her feet."

The ceremony at Three Rivers Golf and Country Club was attended by over 150 people on April 13 and the main categories included outstanding volunteer; care and compassion; inspiring leader; outstanding employee; outstanding team and infection prevention champion.

The Halstead Ward, which has 20 beds, is staffed by Provide, an organisation that delivers health and care services.