Two people at a local drug and alcohol team have been recognised for the outstanding contributions they have made to people’s care.

Cambs Times: Julie Whitfield receives her awardJulie Whitfield receives her award (Image: Archant)

The pair are involved in patient-centred care delivered by Inclusion, an NHS service providing drug, alcohol and psychological services.

Julie Whitfield won the award for being an unsung hero wile Andy Burley won the award for being support worker of the year.

Julie is a recovery worker based in Wisbech where she works with clients involved in the criminal justice system.

Judges said she consistently goes above and beyond the call of duty to provide excellent care to a demanding client group and does so with enthusiasm and vigour.

Andy is the sole prison in-reach engagement worker for the criminal justice team in Inclusion Cambridgeshire.

Judges said he works tirelessly to give service users a voice and to bridge the gap between prison and community services as they are released.

Judges said: “We were hugely impressed by Andy’s commitment and drive to provide the best possible support to service users at their most vulnerable, and markedly increase engagement with services for better outcomes.

“Andy’s enthusiasm and initiative to pave the way for recovery is inspiring and deserves our recognition.”

Inclusion are part of South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust that also provides mental health, learning disability and specialist children’s services and care for serving and veteran MOD personnel, across the country.

350 NHS staff attended the awards ceremony.

The Awards are designed to recognise exceptional contributions to service, by individuals and teams, by clinical and non clinical staff.

More than 100 nominations were received for nine awards and following a rigorous process, the best entries were shortlisted, only finding out if they were winners on the night.