Pets As Therapy bag the Volunteer Award at NHS Awards

The Portsmouth Hospitals team including its furry members from Pets As Therapy were in Westminster for the NHS award ceremony at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre.

Pets As Therapy enhance the wellbeing of patients and staff by visiting hospitals with their dogs, and the team strive to make sure that everyone can access the service regardless of their circumstances.

The NHS Parliamentary Awards are a fantastic opportunity for MPs to recognise local health and care organisations or individuals within the healthcare system by nominating them for a variety of categories.

This year’s award ceremony fell on the 75th anniversary of the NHS and over 750 nominations were received in total.

Caroline Dinenage nominated five local organisations or individuals for different categories, with three of them making the final shortlist. The Pets As Therapy group from Portsmouth Hospitals were announced winners of their ‘Volunteer’ category at the Awards ceremony in Westminster.

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Caroline said: ‘I was bursting with pride to join Pets As Therapy on the stage to collect their award. They do such an amazing job in boosting wellbeing and brightening the days of patients and staff alike, and this is a great way to recognise their contribution.

‘The dogs absolutely stole the show.’

Also shortlisted in the national round were Mahfuja Aktar, for the ‘Nursing and Midwifery Award’, and Jane Cansfield for the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’, both from Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust.

For more information about Pets As Therapy, click the link.