Hello everyone, hope you are well.
It’s Friday, it’s 5 o’clock. It’s the STAR Awards 2018 (#STARAWARDS18)
Yes, the wait is over and tonight, a handful of our staff will be named our STARS of 2018. The awards ceremony at the Dunkenhalgh Hotel tonight is the culmination of a lot of hard of work by a lot of people. I think today, it is worth remembering that the STAR AWARDS are not just about the winners – they are about us celebrating the everyday brilliance of all our staff. They are about us enjoying the relationships we have with our stakeholders, relationships that are so strong and trusted, we can confidently hand over responsibility for choosing the winners to a totally independent stakeholder panel. Theirs was no easy task mind. With a staggering 329 nominations – all of which are worthy of winning - and only 14 who can actually win, I’m glad I don’t have to choose. I really want to thank everybody involved in the STAR AWARDS – the nominees, the nominators, the judges and the organisers. I can’t wait for tonight. And don’t forget, if you are not joining us at the party, then you can watch us on Facebook.
Our new website continues to impress and since its launch I’ve had lots of positive feedback. I have also had quite a glut of people reach out to me through the ‘contact Kevin’ button. I am delighted that the overwhelming majority of these contacts have been to sing the praises of our staff and I am amazed at the language some of them contain. People say ‘angels’; ‘brilliant’; ‘I can’t believe the efficiency of the team’, ‘I was blown away’, ‘so grateful’, ‘outstanding care’, ‘compassion, dedication and co-ordination’. I never tire of hearing such feedback, but I will never be surprised at it either. Well done all of you. Keep up this fantastic work, it means so much to people.
I think this feedback is all the more poignant just at this particular time, when some of our NHS colleagues elsewhere, are the subject of protests, abuse and intimidation. I wanted to take this opportunity to say that we feel for those colleagues and for the undue criticism they are getting. Our jobs are really hard and there is not a single one of us who comes to work to do anything but good for other people. We stand together with those colleagues and send them our best wishes. Like them, we are the NHS, and we care.
So, until next time, have a great weekend and good luck to everyone tonight.