Judges' tough task choosing Sunderland Health Awards winners

The panel of experts was made up of Carol Harries, Trust secretary/director of corporate affairs at City Hospitals Sunderland; Andrea Hetherington, deputy head of corporate affairs at City Hospitals Sunderland; Toni Moon, lead receptionist at Olivers Dental Studio; Sam McErlane, practice manager at Olivers Dental Studio and Gavin Foster, managing editor of The Sunderland Echo.

The judges faced the task of trying to narrow down the field to just one winner for each of the 14 categories – which include GP of the Year and Nurse of the Year – and draw up a shortlist for each.

Carol Harries said: “I found the Health Volunteer Award to be the hardest to judge, as those are people who give up their time freely.

“I think its very hard to make a judgement as everybody deserves to win.

“In future years I would like to make sure people making nominations put more context in, as we sometimes need further information to make a judgement.”

Samantha McErlane said: “I found judging the Nurse of the Year to be the hardest as they were all deserving winners.”

All those on the shortlist will be invited to the finals at the Stadium of Light on Thursday, April 14.

Watch out for coverage of the awards night, and details of every winner, in your Echo next month.