A HUNTINGDON trainer beat off competition from 8,000 fellow employees to take a national award. Joyce Newson, who works at Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon, where she is a trainer and administrator, has been named employee of the year by healthcare h

A HUNTINGDON trainer beat off competition from 8,000 fellow employees to take a national award.

Joyce Newson, who works at Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon, where she is a trainer and administrator, has been named employee of the year by healthcare hotel services company Medirest.

She won a £1,000 prize, an engraved glass trophy and a certificate at the company's annual awards evening.

Joyce, who lives in Rowan Close, Huntingdon, won the award in recognition of the effort she put into training and developing the hospital's 69-strong domestics team. One of her key achievements has been to create dedicated training programmes for Medirest staff aimed at helping them develop their cleaning skills and gain additional expertise in new cleaning system technologies.

She has also had special responsibility for leading the introduction of the company's innovative a+ cleaning initiative which is helping to improve the patient environment through best cleaning practice and new systems technology.

Joyce, 37, has worked at Hinchingbrooke for 21 years, starting as a 15-year-old schoolgirl, and had a part-time evening cleaning job before taking a full-time post with Medirest as a supervisor.

"The hospital is a real community and is like a second home to me as well as being my career," she said. "I work with a great team and we also have excellent support from the hospital trust.