Healthcare assistant, Andrea Marren, is the winner of this month's Star Award. 

Ward manager, Emma Longden, who nominated Andrea, said: "Since joining our team a year ago, Andrea has made a huge difference to every day life on the ward. Firstly, you generally hear her booming laugh before you see her. Secondly, she gives the most amazing hugs. Thirdly and most importantly, she goes above and beyond to find ways to add joys to every day.

"Some examples of her going above and beyond include arranging a bake sale in the main entrance where we raised money for charitable funds. She also holds a free raffle for patients every Thursday on the ward, where they win real prizes that she initially started to fund herself. She has since secured funding for this to continue. That's just for the patients.

"For the staff, when things were tough during the throws of Covid, she recognised the need for some light-hearted mischief. She hid pictures of herself (dressed as Wally) around the ward for staff to find. If you found one, you won a fiver for treats.

"Last week she went out of her way to ensure a patient had fish and chips for her tea after a very stressful day.

"I wanted to chose one shining example but there were too many to choose, this is just her daily standard, honestly I could go on and on. This lady pours her heart and soul into every shift and deserves some recognition for the amazingness that she brings to our Trust.

"Every single shift she works, I receive compliments from patients and their relatives about how warm, kind, funny and caring she is and what a difference this has made to their day."

You can nominate your own Star via the Working for Us pages of the website.