Staff who have gone ‘above and beyond’ in their calls of duty at Epsom and St Helier hospitals have been celebrated at an awards ceremony.

The Winter Heroes ceremony, a first for both hospitals, aims to recognise the hard work and commitment of staff during a very tough and busy winter period.

Examples include an A&E receptionist making tea and sandwiches for patients, staff giving up their evenings and weekends, and a member of security fundraising a significant amount of money for a Christmas toy appeal.

Daniel Elkeles, Epsom and St Helier Hospitals NHS Trust’s chief executive, said: “This special ‘Winter Heroes’ award ceremony was about recognising the many different ways our staff go the extra mile to make sure that we deliver great care to our patients, even during challenging and busy times.

“We know that this winter season has been exceptionally difficult for our staff and patients, as bitterly cold weather brought more people than ever before through our doors.

“That’s why I asked people to nominate their Winter Heroes – during those levels of unprecedented pressure, we have relied on huge levels of effort from our staff to keep patients safe and provide compassionate care to those who need us.

Journalist and broadcaster Jeremy Vine hosted the event alongside Mr Elkeles.

He added: “I would like to say a huge thank you to Jeremy for coming along and making the event a true celebration. He began proceedings with a touching, funny and heart-warming speech and stayed throughout the celebrations to personally hand out the awards and meet with staff.

“I would like to say a huge thank you to all of our staff for their outstanding efforts over the winter. Not all heroes wear capes, but a lot of them wear NHS uniforms!”

“We would like to thank Allocate Software, who kindly offered to fund this entire event for us. Allocate provide our trust with e-rostering software, and will soon be including our Trust in a digitised collaborative temporary staff bank for south west London.”

The full list of examples:

- The A&E receptionist Katie Fowler made tea and sandwiches for patients who had a long wait to be seen

- Large numbers of staff gave up their evenings and weekends in order to help our patients get the treatment they need

- A member of security staff raised significant amount of money for the Christmas toy appeal

- Zahra Alexander, the head of occupational health, ran a comprehensive programme to ensure a record number of staff had their flu vaccines and were therefore protected against the illness

The ceremony was held on March 8.