Making a Difference Awards 2026
Thank you to everyone who nominated a UHDB colleague or team in this year's Annual Making a Difference Awards 2026, funded by Derby and Burton Hospitals Charity.
Each year, we recognise and celebrate our people across UHDB through the annual Making a Difference Awards.
We have seen nominations for teams and colleagues across UHDB who have demonstrated the Trust values of compassion, openness and excellence and have gone above and beyond to either directly or indirectly provide exceptional care to our patients. This may be through improvements to quality and safety, supporting colleagues, or making positive changes across our sites, the local NHS system or even nationally.
The annual Making a Difference Awards is an opportunity to recognise an individual or team and thank them for their contributions and achievements in the past year by nominating them in one of the 10 categories.
Thank you to patients, relatives and colleagues who took the time to nominate a member of staff. This year we received over 1,400 nominations sharing how UHDB colleagues have demonstrated our Trust values of excellence, compassion and openness.
Winners were announced at our awards ceremony at Hilton St. George's Park on Friday 18 September, funded by Derby & Burton Hospitals Charity, and all printed materials provided by sponsor LG Davis.
Congratulations to all those shortlisted:
Patient Hero Award
Winner
- Aimee Adams, Trustwide
Shortlisted nominees
- Alison Jelley, Royal Derby Hospital
- Jayne McCarthy, Royal Derby Hospital
- Lilly Appleton, Royal Derby Hospital
Behind the Scenes Hero Award
Winner
- Medical and Dental E-Rostering Team, Trustwide
Shortlisted nominee
- Darran Allen, Queen's Hospital Burton
- Melissa Smith, Royal Derby Hospital and Queen's Hospital Burton
- Michelle Bradford, Trustwide
Learning and Improvement Award
Winner
- Acute Pain Team, Royal Derby Hospital
Shortlisted nominees
- Ward 4, Queen's Hospital Burton
- Pharmacy team, Queen's Hospital Burton
- Ophthalmology, Trustwide
Enhancing Colleague Experience and Culture Award
Winner
- Katie Stanley, Sir Robert Peel Community Hospital
Shortlisted nominees
- Cara Kaila, Royal Derby Hospital and Queen's Hospital Burton
- Frances D'Angelo, Trustwide
- Miklyanne Bocij, Royal Derby Hospital
Quality and Safety Award
Winner
- Neonatal Jaundice Virtual Ward team, Royal Derby Hospital
Shortlisted nominees
- Acute Stroke Response team, Royal Derby Hospital
- Children's Emergency Department team, Royal Derby Hospital
- Emergency Department Frailty ACP team, Queen's Hospital Burton
Innovation or Research Award
Winner
- Heated Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) treatment, Royal Derby Hospital
Shortlisted nominees
- Data Science team, Trustwide
- Immersive Simulation Suite, Trustwide
- Upper GI Cancer Surgery team, Royal Derby Hospital
Value and Sustainability Award
Winner
- Renewable Energy Project, Queen's Hospital Burton, Sir Robert Peel, Samuel Johnson and Florence Nightingale Community Hospital
Shortlisted nominees
- Elective Orthopaedics, Royal Derby Hospital and Queen's Hospital Burton
- Tiffany Feather, Trustwide
- Urology team, Royal Derby Hospital
Communities and Partnerships Award
Winner
- Rheumatology Therapy team, Florence Nightingale Community Hospital
Shortlisted nominees
- Hip Fracture Patient Advocate Outreach Team, Royal Derby Hospital and Queen's Hospital Burton
- Liz Hollway, Florence Nightingale Community Hospital and Royal Derby Hospital
- Olivia Mitchell, Florence Nightingale Community Hospital
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Reducing Health Inequalities Award
Winner
- Agnes Williams, Royal Derby Hospital
Shortlisted nominees
- Aderoju Adediran, Trustwide
- Chrissy Freemantle, Royal Derby Hospital
- Claire Conboy, Royal Derby Hospital, Queen's Hospital Burton and Florence Nightingale Community Hospital
Chair's Team of the Year Award
Winner
- Maternity team, Trustwide
Shortlisted nominees
- Combined Triage Assessment Unit, Royal Derby Hospital
- Diabetes Technology Research Team, Trustwide
- Ilkeston Day Case team, Ilkeston Community Hospital and Royal Derby Hospital
The type of information collected
For the awards we process the following information:
- Personal identifiers, contacts and characteristics (for example, name and contact details).
- Information relating to the care you, or someone close to you received at UHDB.
It is helpful to know who, when and where the nomination relates to, so that we can identify the area or staff member who is being nominated. However, if you prefer, you can make an anonymous entry.
How we get your personal information and why we have it
The information we process is provided to us directly by you to enable us to nominate our staff for a Patient Hero Award.
We share information that you have given with staff at UHDB who provided your care, in addition to our Communications team, to nominate them to receive an award at UHDB. We may share this information internally with staff at UHDB, and share externally on our website and social media to celebrate the winner and shortlisted staff for the awards.
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information is 'legitimate interests'.
How we store your personal information
Your information is securely stored on Trust systems.
We keep the information you have provided up until our Making a Difference Awards have been presented (September 2026). All the information you have provided will then be deleted from our systems.
Contacting us and further information
If you have any questions about how information is used for the awards please contact us at uhdb.employeeawards@nhs.net. Further information on privacy at UHDB, and how we keep your data safe > is available on our website.
