Patients on Ward 9 at Walsall Manor Hospital will be receiving care from the best Clinical Support Worker in the country – and that’s official!

Paul Foster has won the national accolade of Clinical Support Worker of the Year in the 2019 Our Health Heroes awards after being nominated for his exceptionally high standards of care and consideration for patients.

The father-of-three caught judges’ attention after they heard how he ensured his patients were able to mark Remembrance Sunday by arriving early for his shift to ensure all his elderly gentleman patients were ready to watch the 11am service parade.

On another occasion he went to buy a bacon and egg sandwich as it was the only food a poorly patient fancied and Paul wanted to get him on the road to recovery and focused on being back home.

Paul has worked for Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust for 17 years and was voted a West Midlands regional winner who then joined national finalists – beating more than 800 to be on the final shortlist of 34 in eight categories for the national award.

His colleagues describe him as “someone who always goes above and beyond, coming in on his days off to help decorate the ward and help our events.”

Claire Cooper, Senior Sister said: “We are over the moon that Paul’s efforts have been recognised nationally. We know he’s a fantastic member of the team but it’s great to see his dedication has also made an impact on a bigger scale. We’re so proud of him!”

Paul, aged 40, picked up his award last week and describes the experience as “overwhelming.”

“I just want to reassure our patients who often feel frightened and nervous about being in hospital; it’s important that we make a connection with them and earn their trust and respect,” he said.

“It all seems so surreal that people have been voting for me to win but I’d like to thank everyone who did so because it means a lot to me.

I’d also like to give credit to Sue, Bob and Jit as they first looked after me on the Kingfisher ward 17 years ago.

I also want to thank our great team on Ward 9 as well as colleagues past and present because it’s all of us pulling together that makes the biggest difference to our patients.”

Today, Paul’s colleagues threw a celebratory party in his honour with tea, cakes, decorations and music so patients could also join in on the fun and celebrate too.

In his spare time Paul enjoys running and has completed a number of 10k runs.