A mental health support worker has described his “surprise and delight” at making the final of the Our Health Heroes awards.

The national awards celebrate “behind the scenes” NHS and social care support workers who are active on the frontline in roles that often go unnoticed.

Thomas Gregory-Smith, 43, who lives in Littlemore and works with the Older Adult Community Mental Health Team, is a finalist in the Clinical Support Worker of the Year category. This year the awards had over 600 nominations.

He said: “I was surprised and pleased my manager decided to nominate me but I didn’t think anything would happen.

He added: “This award will validate all the hard work both the team and I have done to improve the quality of life of those we support.”

In the nomination Mr Gregory-Smith’s manager described him as “truly exceptional”, caring and compassionate, adding that he was impressively effective with the hardest to reach clients and always thought about his patients’ spiritual and religious needs.

Mr Gregory-Smith, who comes from Durham but moved to Oxford when his wife Severine got a job as a renal dietician at the Churchill Hospital, was drawn to a caring profession from a young age and initially thought he might become a doctor.

Later working in care homes and seeing residents with dementia he became more focused on mental health issues. He also saw how his skills as a talented musician could be applied in his therapeutic work. “I would play my violin to residents to help them remember songs or try to sing along."

He still uses his love of music to engage with service users.

“I try to build up a rapport by talking about classical music. One guy loved 1970s music like Bob Dylan and Donovan. He plays guitar and I play violin and we have performed a couple of times on in-patient wards and the Restore Garden Café off the Cowley Road.”

During the pandemic, Mr Gregory-Smith, who has two daughters aged five and three, has personally collected and transported PPE for the team when the system was falling behind. He said the crisis has made his work more complicated and challenging.

“We have a lot of referrals because of the sense of isolation and it has made it harder for families to care for each other. We have to wear full PPE and that creates a barrier. Normally I’d be encouraging people to get out and socialize so it’s a very limiting factor .”

Service director of Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust Katrina Anderson said: “I am delighted and proud that Thomas has been shortlisted for this award. I hope this nomination shines a light on these professionals whose work is a real lifeline for our service users.”

Organisers Skills for Health and partners NHS Employers, UNISON and law firm Bevan Brittan, want the public, as well as colleagues, to vote for the winners at https://skillsforhealth.org.uk/vote-for-your-our-health-heroes/ before February 8.