One of Compton Care’s amazing volunteers has been awarded Volunteer of the Year 2024 in the Hospice UK 2024 Awards.

Harbhajan Singh Surj (70) from Wolverhampton, has been recognised with the award for his tireless work championing access to hospice care out in the community.

The Anne, Duchess of Norfolk Volunteer of the Year Award is given by Hospice UK, which represents more than 200 hospices across the UK, in recognition of the dedication and commitment made by an individual to their local hospice or palliative care organisation.

Harbhajan has been generously giving his time to Compton for 15 years. After retiring, he decided that he wanted to volunteer and has since undertaken a variety of roles, from supporting our Living Well Service to helping the Fundraising team. He is also a member of our People Panel, our community engagement forum that helps to break down barriers to enable more people to access our services.

Karen Evans, our Partnership Development Manager said: “Harbhajan has a real passion for championing Compton’s vital services within his local community. He approached me to say he was keen to work with us to raise the profile of Compton within the South Asian community. That meeting was the start of an amazing journey that has proven to be invaluable in supporting Compton’s goal to break down barriers to accessing our services and reduce health inequalities.

“One of the first things he highlighted was a language barrier and was instrumental in the development of translated posters that highlighted our specialist palliative care and bereavement support services. He then visited local places of worship, introducing our Engagement Coordinator, to distribute the posters and talk about Compton’s services, which resulted in us giving a presentation to the Congregations of the Gurdwaras.”

These opportunities have proven invaluable to our engagement and health equality work and in breaking down barriers to accessing specialist palliative and end of life care.

Harbhajan said: “I am both delighted and humbled to have received this award and I hope it will help further shine a light on Compton’s services. There are many people within the Sikh community who are dedicated to supporting their local community. By volunteering myself at Compton, I’ve been able to see first-hand the incredible work the charity does to support local people living with a life limiting condition.

“I’m passionate about helping Compton to engage with local communities to raise awareness of their services, but also to let people who want to give their time know of the volunteer opportunities Compton has and the difference they can make to their communities.”

Toby Porter, Chief Executive, Hospice UK said: “The judges of this award felt that Harbhajan’s contribution as a volunteer across many parts of Compton Care was impressive, but his commitment to breaking down barriers to getting specialist palliative and end of life care for the South Asian community made him shine through as the winner.

By highlighting the need for translated written information, visiting local places of worship, and supporting community open day events, his contribution has had a lasting impact on reducing inequity of access to care.

Harbhajan is a fantastic example of how hospices can work differently with volunteers, and ensure that volunteers can contribute to hospice care in the most innovative and meaningful ways.”

Rachel Overfield, CEO at Compton Care added: “We are absolutely thrilled that Harbhajan’s amazing efforts have been recognised with this national award celebrating the positive impact he’s made.  His trusted insight into his community and his determination to break down barriers to accessing specialist palliative and end of life care has proven to be invaluable in our drive to reduce inequality in access to our wide range of services and encourage people to volunteer with us. Congratulations Harbhajan, on behalf of everyone at Compton!”