Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an NHS long term service medal.

There has been no such assessment and there is no national system in place for recognising long service in the National Health Service. It is the responsibility of individual employing NHS organisations to recognise any long service by staff members, with most NHS organisations already having their own internal processes in place to do this.

For NHS employees with long term service and who have made an outstanding contribution, the honours system celebrates those who go above and beyond to change the world around them for the better. Nominations can be made online via the Cabinet Office website.