PEOPLE are being asked to nominate the Nursing Stars who have made a real difference to their lives or the lives of a loved one.

Whether it is a story of first-rate care, kindness or compassion, the NHS wants to hear how your nurses in Worcestershire have gone beyond the call of duty to help you through a difficult time.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust and Wor-cestershire Health and Care Trust are teaming up to ask patients, relatives and carers to recognise nurses who have made a difference by nominating them for the Nursing Standard’s prestigious patient choice award.

County nurses will go up against others from all over the country in competition to make a final four-person shortlist, with a public vote then deciding the eventual winner.

Lindsey Webb, chief nursing officer at the acute trust – which runs hospitals like Worcester-shire Royal – said: “I’m so proud of the great care and dedication provided by nurses and midwives across Worcestershire.

“They make such a huge difference, every day, to people when they are at their most vulnerable and need that care and compassion. This is an excellent opportunity for our nurses and midwives to get the recognition that they deserve.”

Worcestershire Health and Care Trust is responsible for community hospitals and Sandra Bren-nan, director of nursing, said: “Nurses in Worces-tershire do a great job, often in difficult and pressurised situations and it’s easy sometimes to take their efforts for granted.

“It’s also really important that we don’t allow the actions of a few high- profile cases nationally cast a shadow on the nursing profession in general and we know that in Worcestershire we have dedicated nurses who really do put the patient and their families at the heart of everything they do. These awards are an opportunity to formally recognise that.”

To nominate a nurse, midwife, health visitor or healthcare support worker, people simply need to describe how they went above and beyond the call of duty. Nominations can be made online at patients-choice.co.uk or by calling 0208 4231066 for an entry form.

The closing date for nominations is Friday, January 3, and public voting on the final shortlist will run between March 3 and April 25.

All finalists will be in-vited to an awards ceremony at the Savoy Hotel, London, on May 9.