Healthcare heroes honoured at Staff Recognition Awards

Members of staff, volunteers, and their nominators joined together at Oxford Town Hall to celebrate excellence at the Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) Staff Recognition Awards (Friday 6 June 2025).

This annual event is organised by the Trust and supported by Oxford Hospitals Charity to recognise colleagues for the amazing work they have done in the past year.

Television presenter Simon Thomas hosted the event.

The award categories are based on the Trust's values: Excellence, Compassion, Improvement, Learning, Respect and Delivery. 

There are also awards for Sustainability, Oxford Hospitals Charity Supporter or Volunteer of the Year, a Patients' Choice Award which patients and their relatives nominate for, a Chief Executive Officer's Award, and a Chair's Award.

Award categories and winners

Compassion: Julia Smyk and Dr Rob Stuart

Delivery: Prostate Cancer team

Excellence: Karolina Weber

Respect: Mahamud Abubaka

Learning: Adult Critical Care Foundation Programme team

Improvement: Ambulatory Hepatology Nurse team

Sustainability: Emma Walduck

Patients' Choice: Mr Giles Bond-Smith

Supporter or Volunteer: Gareth and Nicola Keymer

CEO's Award: JR West Wing Recovery team

Chair's Award: Dr Victoria Bradley

More than 1,500 nominations were received for this year's Staff Recognition Awards, and a shortlisting panel including staff from across the Trust had the difficult task of selecting the finalists.

Professor Sir Jonathan Montgomery, Chair at OUH, said: “Huge congratulations to all the winners and finalists recognised at our annual Staff Recognition Awards. We loved celebrating fantastic individuals and teams across the Trust with everyone who attended the event.

“These awards give us a platform to recognise and reward those who are consistently making a difference and living the values we promote as a Trust.

“Thank you to all involved who worked to make the event a great success, and thank you to everyone in #OneTeamOneOUH for all you do.

“Thank you also to Oxford Hospitals Charity for their generous support of the awards, as their support makes this important celebration of staff achievements possible.”

Douglas Graham, Chief Executive Officer of Oxford Hospitals Charity, said: "We are delighted to be able to support this special evening, which never fails to inspire us all. Oxford Hospitals Charity is fortunate to work with many amazing staff across our NHS Trust as well as the incredible charity supporters and volunteers – so this it is wonderful to have the chance to say thank you properly.”