THE public of Oldham are being asked by health chiefs to nominate their NHS heroes as part of an annual staff awards event.

The event is targeted at users of the Royal Oldham Hospital, Fairfield general Hospital, in Bury, Rochdale Infirmary, North Manchester General Hospital and their community healthcare services.

Anyone with a relative who has had exceptional treatment at any of the hospitals and who wants to thank a particular doctor, nurse, support worker, or ward that did their best to treat and look after them, then this is the chance.

The Salford, Oldham, Bury & Rochdale and North Manchester Care Organisations, which are run as part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group, are asking the public to nominate hospital and community healthcare staff and teams for the ‘Patients’ Choice Award’ category.

The Patients’ Choice Award gives the general public the opportunity to say "thank you" and publicly recognise the outstanding care and treatment given to either them, a relative or close friend. The Care Organisation executive teams will select one finalist for each Care Organisation and it will then be over to members of the public to choose the overall winner via an online vote.

Raj Jain, chief executive of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group, said: “Delivering exceptional patient care with professional expertise and kindness is what our staff strive to achieve every day in their NHS career.

"To be recognised for this by nominations from the public is extra special. If you know a doctor, nurse, healthcare assistant, physio, receptionist or any other members of our staff who has done a great job then tell us all about it, we would love to hear from you.”

People can nominate a staff member, clinical or non-clinical, by submitting an online nomination form here: www.pat.nhs.uk/forms/staff-awards-patients-choice-award-2019.htm

The closing date for nominations is midnight Thursday, September 19.

The winner will be announced at the Northern Care Alliance Staff Awards evening on November 29 at the Sheridan Suite, Manchester. The awards will be hosted by the chief executive Raj Jain and chairman Jim Potter.

The Northern Care Alliance brings together five hospitals, 2,000 beds, specialist and acute services, a range of associated community services, and over 19,000 staff across Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust and The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

The Alliance oversees four Care Organisations for Salford, Oldham, Bury/Rochdale, and North Manchester which are responsible for providing hospital and community healthcare services to over 1m people across our local communities.