THEY ARE the unsung heroes who work tirelessly to care for patients on our city’s hospital wards.

And last night their dedication and hard work was celebrated at a special awards ceremony to honour Southampton’s Hospital Heroes.

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The waiting was finally over as hundreds of hospital staff from across the city waited with baited breath to find out who had won the prestigious gongs, including the Daily Echo’s Hospital Heroes Readers Choice Award.

We teamed up with Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust (SUHT) to track down those individuals who have gone that extra mile to bring a smile to those suffering.

It was a tough decision, with five very deserving nominees, but a panel of Daily Echo judges chose clinical nurse specialist Miranda Gardner as the overall winner.

She was nominated by Louise Docwra who believed Miranda deserved special recognition for the extraordinary care she gave to her 22-year-old son, James Riley, after he was hit by a train, leaving him with a catalogue of life-threatening injuries.

Louise said: “She became a reassuring, friendly face for James, taking the time to explain things and she was instrumental in allowing him to return home very quickly.”

Unfortunately Miranda, who works at Southampton General Hospital, was away on leave so wasn’t able to pick up her award.

The runner-up award went to consultant surgeon Mohammed Abu Hilal and his clinical nurse Joanna Dowle, who were nominated by their patient Pauline Stone.

Pauline had to undergo major surgery after she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and believes she is only here today thanks to the treatment she received from the duo.

She said: “They are such wonderful people and they deserve all the praise that anyone can offer. I just cannot say enough to thank them.”

After their names were revealed by Daily Echo editor Ian Murray, Mr Abu Hilal said: “I am really happy and very glad that the team has been recognised. It is always a wonderful thing to feel appreciated by your patients.

Joanna added: “We are really honoured to be nominated so to be named runner-up is fantastic.

“We were just a small part of a very big team who took care of Pauline and I want to thank Pauline for her nomination and for helping to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer.”

All of the nominees received a pair of tickets to see We Will Rock You courtesy of the Mayflower.

The Daily Echo award was one of nine awards presented as part of SUHT’s annual Hospital Hero Awards, to recognised staff, individually and collectively as teams for their outstanding work over the last 12 months.

Sailing star Hannah Jenner was special guest for the evening and presented some of the awards.

Mark Hackett, chief executive of SUHT, said: “This shows we are really making progress towards our 20/20 vision and how inspiring and fantastic our staff are in terms of what they have achieved.

“Healthcare is all about people and we have fantastic people.”