The Gift of Time Volunteer Award

This award is for a volunteer helping at UHS who has given their time to make the greatest difference to patients or staff, or both.

Winner - Steve Mullane, chairman, Southampton Hospital Radio

Steve has been involved with Southampton hospital radio for over 25 years and chairman for nearly two years. He works tirelessly to ensure the success of the studio including initiating new ways to enable patients to continue to listen to the broadcasts after the demise of the patientline system and researched new ways for patients to contact the studio using a ‘hotline’ button leading to an increase in requests. He has also organised events to help raise funds and the profile of the service and motivates others to help with this. He supports new presenters as well as hosting his own programme. His caring and enthusiastic approach provides much support for the team and supporters who he works with.

Runner-up - Sue Wolstenholme, Southampton Area Talking Echo (SATE)

SATE record information for our patients. Sue co-ordinates the support for SATE by organising the rotas of over 70 volunteers as readers, sound engineers, editors, copiers and dispatchers. Originally the information was recorded onto cassette tapes and moving with the times they have recently gone over to memory sticks. This has required an enormous amount of organisation to distribute the new equipment to over 400 listeners and support with training to them on how to use the new speaker boxes to play the sticks. Sue has provided advice and support to some listeners who have been anxious about using the new technology, in some cases visiting them in their own homes. Our patients in medicine for older people have been particularly appreciative.

Also nominated

• Richard George, learning support volunteer
• Gary Guthrie, cake and concert events, medicine for older people
• Rosie Mitchell, staff nurse, paediatric intensive care unit (PICU)
• Play centre volunteers, child health