In the lead-up to the NHS Lanarkshire Staff Awards 2026, we are shining a spotlight on the exceptional individuals and teams shortlisted for this year’s awards.
The fourth finalist in our spotlight series is the Peer Support Worker Service, delivered in partnership with Lanarkshire Links.
Based across acute mental health admission wards at University Hospitals Hairmyres and Wishaw, the service brings something unique and powerful to inpatient care: lived experience.
Peer Support Workers complement clinical care through one-to-one conversations, walks, informal support and group work. Their personal understanding of mental distress allows them to connect with patients in a way that builds trust, hope and genuine therapeutic relationships.
Their support is guided by what matters to each patient, helping to promote voice, choice and autonomy. They also support families and carers, help strengthen communication between patients and ward teams, and demonstrate through their own journeys that recovery is possible.
Patients have described how having the opportunity to walk, talk and share their worries with a Peer Support Worker helps reduce anxiety. Others say the conversations give them hope for the future.
Feedback from staff has also highlighted the service’s impact, with 84 per cent reporting improved therapeutic engagement and 97 per cent saying patients and carers ask when the Peer Support Worker will next be available.
The Peer Support Worker Service has been shortlisted in recognition of the way lived experience has become an invaluable source of compassion, connection and positive cultural change within inpatient mental health care.
The NHS Lanarkshire Staff Awards ceremony will take place on Wednesday 7 October 2026.
Look out for our next finalist spotlight as we continue the countdown to the ceremony.
