the exceptional
achievements of unsung heroes
within health and social care
services in Scotland
Introduction
The Scottish Health Awards are the most prestigious and recognised awards for those working across NHS Scotland and its partners to deliver high quality health and social care services to the people of Scotland. Run by the Daily Record in partnership with NHS Scotland and the Scottish Government, the awards are now well established in the Scottish calendar and recognise those that go that extra mile to improve the health and wellbeing of others.
The awards reflect the amazing diversity of talent and showcase the dedication and commitment of those who work tirelessly on our behalf. NHS Scotland is committed to providing sustainable high quality health services for the people of Scotland. Increasingly, health and social care services are being delivered in an integrated way focusing on prevention, anticipation and supported self-management and the awards aim to recognise this approach.
In a year when staff across health and social care have been rising to the many challenges of dealing with Coronavirus (COVID-19), there’s never been a better time to recognise and reward them for what they have been doing day-in and day-out.
There are sixteen award categories including a People’s Choice Award which will be open to a public vote from 19 October. While we expect that COVID-19 will feature across the majority of the award categories this year, the People’s Choice Award will specifically recognise our individuals and teams who have responded so magnificently to the challenge of caring for people during the pandemic, while at the same time maintaining a range of essential services and continuing to provide essential care.
The People’s Choice Award will be put to a public vote after nominations close on 30 September and when our judging panel have selected the most inspiring nominations, you’ll be able to vote for your winner in this category.
We’ll announce the finalists in the remaining categories on 11 November and all winners – including the winner of the People’s Choice Award – will be announced on 9 December at the virtual ceremony which can be viewed online. We’ll announce details of how you can do this closer to the time.
The sixteen award categories are:
There are sixteen award categories:
• Support Worker Award
• Innovation Award
• Volunteers Award
• Midwife Award
• Allied Health Professional Award
• Young Achiever Award
• Unsung Hero Award
• Care for Mental Health Award
• Integrated Care Award
• Healthier Lifestyle Award
• Leader of the Year Award
• Nurse Award
• Doctor Award
• Top Team Award
• Global Citizenship Award
• People’s Choice Award
Virtual Awards Ceremony
Wednesday 9 December 2020
Roll of Honour
2020 Winners
Finalists
SUPPORT WORKER AWARD
Sponsored by Unison Scotland
- Scott Broadley, Senior Key Support Worker, Cornerstone, Lanarkshire
- Ashley McGee, Clinical Support Worker Speech & Language Therapy, Royal Victoria Hospital, NHS Tayside
- Libera Rina Vickers, Clinical Support Worker Main Recovery, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, NHS Lothian
INNOVATION AWARD
Sponsored by NHS Research Scotland and Scottish Health Innovations Ltd
- Paul Swinton, Air Ambulance Paramedic with the Scottish Ambulance Service, and Neil Sinclair, Assistant Medical Director for the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service
- The SCOTCAP Evaluation Project Team, Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre
- vCreate COVID-19 Project Team, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
VOLUNTEERS AWARD
- Helen Hagan, Volunteer, Children’s Ward, Victoria Hospital, NHS Fife
- Glasgow Recovery Communities, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
- Point and Sandwick Trust Volunteers, Western Isles
YOUNG ACHIEVER AWARD
- Colin McGill, Porter, St John’s Hospital, NHS Lothian
- Sophie Nicola Ross, Call Handler, NHS 24
- Bernadetta Trzaska, Clinical Support Worker, Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership
NURSE AWARD
Sponsored by Unison Greater Glasgow & Clyde
- Nicole Anderson, Clinical Nurse Advisor, Flow Centre, Astley Ainslie Hospital, NHS Lothian
- Jenny Manson, Community Children’s Nurse, The Willows, Children, Young People & Family Centre, NHS Dumfries & Galloway
- Gillian Wylie, Paediatric ECMO Coordinator, Royal Hospital for Children, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
MIDWIFE AWARD
Sponsored by Royal College of Midwives
- Siobhain Leith, Midwife Practice Educator, Aberdeen Maternity Hospital, NHS Grampian
- Laura Muir, Community Midwife, Crosshouse Hospital, NHS Ayrshire & Arran
- Vulnerable in Pregnancy (VIP) Team Initiative, Victoria Hospital, NHS Fife
ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONAL AWARD
Sponsored by Storm Lenus
- Alex Kane, Specialist Paediatric Physiotherapist, West Centre, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
- Sam Stirling, Lead Physiotherapist, Medicine for the Elderly, Western General Hospital, NHS Lothian
- Paul Watson, Palliative and End of Life Care Project Paramedic, Scottish Ambulance Service
INTEGRATED CARE AWARD
Sponsored by Healthcare Improvement Scotland
- Sexual Health & Blood Borne Virus Managed Care Network - Eliminating Hepatitis C, NHS Tayside
- The Edinburgh Collective - The Covid Response from Addiction Recovery Services, Homeless Healthcare & Third Sector Partners, NHS Lothian
- The Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland
CARE FOR MENTAL HEALTH AWARD
- Dr Sharon Mulhern, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, NHS Ayrshire & Arran
- NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde: Esteem- Early intervention for Psychosis service
- NHS 24’s Mental Health Team, NHS 24
HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE AWARD
Sponsored by Scottish Government
- Fiona Baxter, Senior Support Worker, Learning Disabilities, Dumbarton Day Centre, West Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership
- West Of Scotland Adult CF Physiotherapy Team, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
- Keep Well Team, Health Improvement Department, Coatbridge Health Centre
- Strachur Hub: Kate Paton (Practice Nurse, Strachur Medical Practice), Ian Asher, Angela Wilson, Heather Grier
LEADER OF THE YEAR AWARD
Sponsored by NHS Education for Scotland
- Paula Birks, Community Support Manager, Fife Community Support Service, Fife Health and Social Care Partnership
- Julie McIlwaine, GP, Grantown Medical Practice
- Catherine Shaw, Lead Unscheduled Care Practitioner, Remote and Rural Support Team North & West Coast, NHS Highland
DOCTOR AWARD
- Dr Andrew Eccleston, Consultant Paediatrician, Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, NHS Dumfries and Galloway
- Dr Pauline Grose, Consultant in Acute Medicine, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
- Dr Mhairi Murdoch, on call Medical Physician, Western Isles Hospital, NHS Western Isles
GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP AWARD
- Mhairi Collie, Consultant Colorectal Surgeon, Western General Hospital, NHS Lothian
- Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)
- Dr Sonali Tarafdar, Consultant Ophthalmologist, Ninewells Hospital, NHS Tayside
UNSUNG HERO AWARD
Sponsored by GSK
- Kathy Cockman, Executive Practice Manager, Glenlivet Medical Practice
- Robert Devine, Paramedic, Scottish Ambulance Service
- David Taggart, Category Manager, NHS National Services Scotland
TOP TEAM AWARD
Sponsored by Unison Lothian
- Community Pharmacy Teams across Scotland
- Lomond Ward Nursing Team, Vale of Leven Hospital, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
- Team Echo, Scottish Ambulance Service Special Operations Response Team
PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
Sponsored by Alpha Solway
- Argyll & Bute Caring for People Team
- Dr Pauline Grose, Consultant in Acute Medicine, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
- Medical Physics Department, Forth Valley Royal Hospital, NHS Forth Valley
- Point and Sandwick Trust Volunteers
- Carol Scott, community healthcare support worker, NHS Lanarkshire
- Jade Scott, Student Nurse/Healthcare Assistant, NHS Forth Valley
- Dr Mun Woo, Associate Specialist, Renal Unit, Inverclyde Royal Hospital, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
Award Categories
Host

Having presented the very funny and eventful MacAulay and Co. on BBC Radio Scotland for almost 18 years and with a string of TV appearances, Fred’s on air witticisms and on screen reputation are the product of years of experience on the live circuit, including a stint as the first ever-Scottish compere at the Comedy Store in London.
Arriving late to the world of stand-up comedy in the early 90’s, he has gone on to be a regular at the Edinburgh Fringe (this will be his 29th) and at comedy festivals worldwide. Appearances on many Radio 4 comedy panel shows including I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, Just A Minute, The Unbelievable Truth and The News Quiz guarantee an audience for Fred’s Live stand-up tours.
How It Works
Nomination Process
Anyone can make a nomination for the Scottish Health Awards and we particularly welcome nominations from the general public who wish to nominate and recognise the contribution and achievements of:
- individuals, groups and teams delivering NHS or integrated health and social care services within an NHS, Health and Social Care Partnerships or a Local Authority environment; and
- individuals, groups and teams from partner organisations, charities or external organisations who provide health and social care services.
An individual, a group or a team can be nominated for a maximum of two award categories as long as each nomination satisfies the specific award criteria in each. The event organisers reserve the right to reassign nominations to a category that they believe most suited to the nomination.
Please note that individuals cannot nominate themselves but a nomination for a group or a team from an individual within that team will be accepted.
When making a nomination, please ensure that the person or people you are nominating are aware of your nomination and have agreed to you providing information about their work as well as their contact details. This is because the information you provide in the nomination form may be used as a basis for a written feature within Reach plc newspapers without Reach plc making contact with the person nominated to gain their consent. On that basis, we cannot accept nominations where the person being nominated hasn’t given agreement for you to share information about their work.
Your nomination should contain the following information:
- Why you want to nominate this individual/team?
- What were they trying to achieve?
- What did they do?
- What happened as a result?
Nominations can be made for individuals, groups or teams working in an NHS environment, Health and Social Care Partnerships or in a Local Authority environment delivering integrated health and social care services. Some award categories are open to partner organisations and to individuals from external organisations. Please read the award category descriptors carefully to decide the category most appropriate for the person or people you wish to nominate.
Nominations open on Thursday 9 July and close at 5:00 pm on Wednesday 30 September. Nominations received after this time will not be accepted.
Profiles and photographs of the winners will be published on the Scottish Health Awards website.
The winners of the Scottish Health Awards will be announced at the virtual awards ceremony on Wednesday 9 December 2020.
Judging Process
All completed nomination forms will be reviewed by a shortlisting panel who will select the top six scoring nominations in each award category to proceed to the next stage.
Shortlisted nominations will be reviewed by a judging panel which comprises a number of senior NHS Scotland and Health and Social Care Integration representatives, Scottish Government Health and Social Care Policy Officials and a representative from the Daily Record.
Each judge scores the shortlisted nominations separately and then the judging panel comes together to agree the three finalists (which will comprise the winner and two runners up) from each award category.
Where there is a tie break, the Chair of the Judging panel will have the casting vote.
All three finalists will be invited to attend the Awards Ceremony.
This year we also have a new People’s Choice category which marks the extraordinary circumstances in 2020 and which you, the public, will have the chance to vote for. Voting for this award will open Monday 19 October.
We will make contact with all of the people who have got through the first stage of the judging process (shortlisted nominations). At that point, we will be seeking agreement that, should they be successful in getting through to the Finalist stage, we have their permission to publish their name in the newspaper.
The public will have the chance to vote for the winner of the new People’s Choice category which recognises the individuals and teams who have responded to the challenge of caring for people during the pandemic. Voting for this award will open Monday 19 October. All other Awards finalists will be announced 11 November 2020.
Award winners will be announced at the Scottish Health Awards Virtual Ceremony on Wednesday 9 December 2020.
Frequently Asked Questions
A person can be nominated for up to two category awards as long as each nomination satisfies the specific award criteria in that category. The event organisers reserve the right to reassign nominations to a category they believe is most suited to the nomination.
The judges’ decision will be based on the content of the nomination and what the person or team has done rather than the number of nominations that person or team has received. Multiple nominations do not carry any more weight and will not contribute to the judging outcome.
We may need to contact you and the person you are nominating to seek further information in order to progress your entry. Please provide accurate email addresses and mobile telephone numbers for this purpose and respond as quickly as you can if contacted.
We will make contact with all of the people nominated who have got through the first stage of the judging process. At that point, we will be seeking their agreement that, should they be successful in getting through to the Finalist stage, they give their permission for their name to be published in the newspaper.
Sponsorship
There are various sponsorship opportunities available.
To discuss sponsorship opportunities please contact Aileen Turnbull on 07825 899 187 or at aileen.turnbull@reachplc.com
Drop Us A Line
Event Enquiries
Lisa Lynas
Events Operations Manager
0141 309 3095
lisa.lynas@reachplc.com
Sponsorship Opportunities
Aileen Turnbull
Key Account Manager
07825 899 187
aileen.turnbull@reachplc.com