The mother of a Sheringham boy who suffers from diabetes has paid tribute to hospital staff who have helped her son.

Staff at the Norfolk And Norwich University Hospital were honoured at its annual staff awards ceremony at The Forum in the city on Friday night .

Among the awards, created by the hospital to recognise the dedication of its staff, are the two EDP-backed Patients' Choice awards, which are nominated by patients themselves and given to an individual and a team.

The winner of the Patients' Choice team gold award was the paediatric diabetes team, who were nominated by Liz Withington and her 14-year-old son Tom from Sheringham.

By giving Tom an insulin pump, instead of injections, the team has helped the Aylsham High School pupil to better monitor and control his diabetes, and it has allowed him to do high levels of exercise and pursue his dream of becoming a professional dancer.

Mrs Withington, 47, from St Austin's Grove, Sheringham, said: 'They have gone above and beyond the call of duty and further than just providing a diabetes service. They really do care genuinely for the kids and try their utmost to do their best for them and their families.'

Gill Ward, children's diabetes specialist nurse, said: 'I think we are all really surprised, delighted and honoured to be nominated. I think we all feel that we are just going our job and it's really nice for the whole team to be recognised and to know that patients are so pleased with us.

'We try to be innovative. We do group work, support work and have done podcasts for the teenagers to access information in a different sort of way.

'We do research and education sessions and hold clinics in other areas like Cromer.'

She also paid tribute to the support of the local group of Diabetes UK for its help in fundraising and helping to 'make it a more colourful service'.

The standard was deemed to be so high that joint silver awards were given to three more individuals. Kay Mason, a staff nurse at the Jack Pryor Renal Unit, another colleague at the unit, iron therapy specialist Roma Spinks, and Lucy Russell, clinical nurse specialist for colorectal/stoma care.

Hospital chairman David Prior said: 'It's such a pleasure to be able to recognise those employees who patients and colleagues feel have gone above and beyond the call of duty. It is also important to recognise those who dedicate their working lives to our hospitals. The response to the awards was overwhelming with over 650 entries, many of them from patients with heart-warming stories to tell.'