The Midlands Centre for Spinal Injury (MCSI) Domestic Team at The Orthopaedic Hospital are celebrating after being crowned as winners at the Unsung Hero Awards.

Carol Pugh, Marina Owen, Barbara Dwyer, Tracey Edwards, Shirley Buckley and Jane Herbert are all part of the team who keep the specialist spinal injuries unit clean at the Oswestry-based hospital.

They won the Ancillary Staff Team of the Year Award at the inaugural Unsung Hero Awards – which celebrated the contributions of non-clinical NHS staff and volunteers.

The team were nominated by Kate Betts, therapy technical instructor, who said: “MCSI patients and their friends and families are dealing with life changing devastating injuries and the Domestic Team can regularly be heard laughing and joking in good humour, telling the patients off for being messy.

“The patients have a relationship with the housekeepers, just as they do with the nurses, doctors and therapists.

“They have the amazing skill of being visible and available to help, as well as quietly going about their duties in a caring, compassionate and professional manner.

“Compliments for the Domestic Team are never far away from patients, relatives and other members of staff – they would be well-deserving winners of an Unsung Hero Award.”

Carol and Marina, along with other RJAH representatives, attended the glittering awards ceremony at The Principle Hotel in Manchester.

Carol said: “The night was fantastic; we really enjoyed the event and were over the moon when we were announced as winners.

“We all want to say a massive thank you to Kate for nominating us in the first place. Without her none of this would have been possible!”

Barbara added: “It’s so lovely to have been recognised for the hard work we all put in on a daily basis.

“It definitely makes our job worthwhile.”

Mark Brandreth, chief executive, also attend the awards ceremony. He said: “We all had an absolutely brilliant evening, and it was so special to see how proud the MCSI Domestic Team were winning an award.

“Our whole Domestic Team are amazing – as proven by the most recent Adult Inpatient Survey where our Wards were rated amongst the very cleanest in the NHS.

“Huge congratulations to the team for winning, and also I want to say well done to everyone who was shortlisted in the awards.”