Now, a selection of these hardworking volunteers have been revealed as finalists for an annual competition that recognises and awards the priceless helpers that work within The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH).

• See details of the finalists below

A record number of 800 submissions were received for dedicated teams and individuals who have gone above and beyond in nine categories.

Finalists have received their invitations to the awards ceremony – which will include teams and individuals that have been nominated by patients, as well as colleagues from within the hospital trust.

These have been nominated for a Values in Practice (VIP) Award 2019, and it's up to Shropshire Star readers to vote for the winner of the Volunteer of the Year award.

Paula Clark, chief executive of SaTH, said: "The Values in Practice Awards ceremony is an important date on the calendar at SaTH. Every day across our trust we see and hear of acts from our teams, and from individuals, which demonstrate how they live our values, often going above and beyond the call of duty.

“These awards are just a small way of saying thank you. We must also say congratulations to all of the other nominees who, while they may not have made the shortlist, have certainly made a positive impact throughout the year. Thank you, too, to everyone who took the time to nominate.”

There are nine categories featuring in the awards this year, Inspirational Leader of the Year; Behind the Scenes; Rising Star of the Year; Team of the Year; Improvement of the Year; Learner of the Year; Patient Experience Award; Volunteer of the Year and Monthly VIP Winners.

The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on September 13 at Telford International Centre.

The evening event will be preceded in the afternoon by SaTH's annual Long Service Awards, for individuals marking 25 or 40 years service within the NHS.

The trust works with a number of partners across the health and social care sector in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Mid Wales to develop patient-focused services that aim to meet the needs of Shropshire communities.

Many of these services rely, and are often run by, volunteers that give up their time to serve the near 500,000 people the trust cares for.

Members of the public have until Monday, September 9 to vote for their winner and can do so by visiting awards.sath.nhs.uk/annual-awards/volunteer-vote

Pair's canine carers bring cheer

Dogs may not be the first thing you expect to see when walking through the doors of a pristine hospital, but two volunteers at Telford's Princess Royal have made it their mission to bring the benefits of canine creatures into the hospital wards.

Mother and daughter duo Jan and Anne-Marie Jones have spent the last 30 years dedicating their free time to helping hospital patients recover and maintain a positive physical and mental wellbeing.

Together, through the Pets as Therapy charity, they train both dogs and cats to bring into a number of wards to greet Alzheimers, dementia, stroke and rehab patients with a wagging tale.

Anne-Marie, of Telford, has also worked as a health care assistant for The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) for the last 20 years and said she spends her days off returning to her place of work.

She said the pair come back to the hospital, along with either their golden retriever Sasha, poodle Lewis or poodle-cross Ziggy, to put a smile on the face of others.

"I've been in the hospital as a volunteer for about 25 years," she said.

"I do work here, but on my days off I'm here to volunteer. It brings joy and happiness to patients throughout the hospital, it really does make their day."

The 44-year-old had her first dog, a Labrador, at the age of 10 and has worked with animals ever since.

She added: "Within my role working as a volunteer I've learnt how to train and groom animals and I've found they make a huge difference to people.

"If patients are sad it can make their day and people that can't move or struggle communicating can interact with the dog, it lowers their blood pressure and brings confidence and comfort.

"Everything we do, we do from the heart and it really does work – that's why it's called Pets as Therapy at the end of the day."

Love

Anne-Marie's mother, Jan, is also a coordinator and assessor for the charity.

She has been going around the wards at PRH for 27 years and joined the charity in 1989, six years after it founded.

The 69-year-old from Telford said: "From my side, the biggest thing is sharing our dogs with others.

"It's the single most important factor and has been for the 30 years I've been with Pets as Therapy.

"All the dogs are tested and carry their own official ID card, as do we, and it's so worthwhile for the patients. It creates so many discussions between people that may otherwise make no interactions with others.

"There's obviously some places in the hospital we can't go and as volunteers we're both aware of that. There's more to this than meets the eye but I love bringing them in here and seeing the love they both give and receive."

The pair said they were overwhelmed upon finding out they were in the running for the award.

Anne-Marie said: "We've both been volunteers for a very long time and it's really nice to be recognised for what we do."

Jan added: "I was shocked to be honest. Shocked but very proud."

Rachel a mothers' champion

Having gone through one of the most harrowing situations a parent can experience, Rachel Quartermaine has taken her time in the neonatal unit as inspiration to help countless people going through the same.

The 39-year-old from Market Drayton travels to Telford's Princess Royal Hospital every week to speak to mothers, fathers, grandparents and siblings in the hospital's neonatal unit.

Mother to four-year-old twins, Olivia and Charlie, her children were prematurely born at 26 weeks and six days.

After receiving a leaflet from the neonatal and sick baby charity, Bliss, she took it upon herself to become a Bliss champion.

"You see some tough things; you talk about some horrendous things – but just to relieve someone's stress for even five minutes makes it all worth it," she said.

"When I was on the neonatal unit there wasn't much support for parents. The staff do an amazing job, but obviously their focus is being there medically for the baby.

"Bliss was a charity I became aware of through my journey and when my twins were about one, I joined them."

It is hard to imagine the emotional rollercoaster having a premature baby brings, but Rachel said while her own experience crops up in conversation, the focus is on the parent in front of her.

"You try not to take your own personal experience into it too much – it's about the parent that's there," she said.

"It helps to understand how they feel but everyone deals with things differently and not everyone wants to talk about the very, very scary thing that's happening to their child.

"Me not being a staff member makes me a bit of an outsider and often mothers will open up about things they might be nervous to mention to a nurse or doctor."

Rachel's role caters to more than just mothers, however, as she explains how some of her most in-depth conversations have been with stoic fathers.

Unexpected

"I'll come in and chat to the nurse who will tell me if anybody has asked to speak to me or if they think anyone would benefit from speaking to me.

"It's important to highlight it's not just the mum. If there's a dad I'll speak to him, or grandma, children, a friend – anyone that's next to the baby.

"One of the best talks I've ever had has been with a father who just completely opened up about how he felt."

Having founded in 1979, Bliss not only supports families with a baby in neonatal care, but it also works with health professionals to provide training as well as conduct its own research into the care of sick and premature babies.

"Sometimes my role can be talking about the weather or what's happened on Love Island," added Rachel.

"For the most part it's doing whatever will make the parent feel better and that's the best part of it."

Before becoming a Bliss champion, Rachel was an air traffic controller in the RAF for 16 years, and said she was overwhelmed to be in the running for an award.

"I was quite surprised to be nominated for an award. It was totally unexpected, albeit nice," she said.

"It was one of the nurses on the unit that nominated me so it really is lovely to know that what I'm doing is appreciated.

"It's also raising awareness for Bliss as they do a huge amount of work into research as well as supporting the role that I do."

Roger focussed on helping others

From travelling the world as a videographer to battling cancer himself, one retired film maker has gone full circle in the name of helping others.

Having worked in the industry for more than 30 years, Roger Turner knows a thing or two about preparing, filming and editing video.

But having been retired for years, the 78-year-old only had a short period of rest and relaxation before recalling his skills to help people suffering from cancer.

After his wife, who also volunteers at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, gave him the idea of helping, he joined the team offering support to patients and has not looked back since.

"When I first became a volunteer it really was a case of making the tea and carrying files," he said.

"At the time we had a sister come over from Lingen Davies and she would do a 45 minute slideshow about cancer to six new patients, three times a week.

"I thought this was a huge waste of her skills and time, and she must have been bored.

"I suggested, 'why don't I video her chat, splice in slides, turn it into a DVD and we can show that to patients and save her time'.

"That became the first offering we made to patients but we knew we could make it better, so we populated it with real people and real situations – that's been running for three years now."

Working in the Hamar Help & Support Centre in Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, Roger sees about 20 new chemotherapy patients a week go through this process.

He said it provides them with vital information that has not been previously accessible and soon after he was asked to make similar videos for different types of treatment, diagnosis and recovery.

"Having done the film on chemotherapy, radiotherapy said they wanted three: breast cancer, prostate cancer and head and neck, so we set about making those.

"I created the first film in 2015 and it's been an intermittent thing here and there since then.

"Currently, this year I've been filming since Easter on a new MacMillan-inspired thing about looking after patients post-treatment, Living Well With and Beyond Cancer.

Happy

"It's a mega project that involves five different health trusts including SaTH.

"So far we've shot about three and a half hours of material covering topics such as nutrition, spiritual wellbeing, fatigue and physical exercise."

Roger's been able to create informative videos to support patients with a cancer diagnosis while calling on his own feelings of what it is like to be told the news that no one wants to hear.

"I'm very happy doing this," he added. "I like to recycle old skills for the benefit of people who are poorly.

"I had a cancer scare myself in 2001. I had chemotherapy and when I came through, the first thing I received was a letter telling me 11am Monday – I didn't sleep for the whole weekend.

"I didn't know what was going to happen and it was a little scary. Now people can come and see the process and talk to people like me about what they can expect.

"When people arrive they shouldn't be quite so tense and stressed and instead participate as part of a team to help get them better."

He added: "This latest project is especially fundamental. You're never cured of cancer, you're in remission. Once treatment finishes suddenly there's nobody about to talk to.

"This programme will bring people together. It will help people in all situations and that's got to be nothing but a good thing."