All staff at Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust will receive a day to spend in any way they like this year. The “gift of time” is being given as a gesture of appreciation for their extraordinary efforts over the last year.

Over the past year teams and individuals have frequently said that time was the thing they needed most. So senior leaders have spoken with staff and said; “the gift of time is a small way of saying thank you to you and your team. It is something for all of us.” If they were happy to do so staff were also asked to share how they used their gift of time with the hashtag #shscgiftoftime

SHSC provides a range of mental health, learning disability and substance misuse services to the people of Sheffield.

Caroline Parry, Executive Director of People at SHSC said: “Since COVID-19 came to the UK last year, staff at SHSC have worked relentlessly to maintain mental health and social care services in Sheffield. From community teams to ward staff to supporting services, all our teams have risen to every challenge COVID-19 has thrown at us.

“Alongside that we have been busy making the care we provide better for our service users. All of us have worked really hard to improve the way we support people’s physical health, improve the environments and processes on our wards and decisions unit, develop our governance systems and more. Team SHSC has done all this while dealing with the effects of a global pandemic.

“The dedication and hard work our staff have shown has been nothing short of incredible. The Gift of Time is a small token of appreciation for that.”