Story originally posted on 20 November 2009.

UHB has won a national award for the way it has helped unemployed people, apprentices and existing staff.

UHB's Learning Hub, which houses the ACTIVATE and Building Health projects, has won a coveted Matrix excellence award, one of only a handful of "excellence" awards are made each year.

Matrix is the national standard for information, advice and guidance - which the Hub team gives to unemployed people, apprentices and existing staff who lack a basic skill.

The Learning Hub has been awarded a "Matrix Excellence Award" in recognition of the way that the Matrix standard has provided outstanding benefits to both individual clients of the Hub as well as the organisation as a whole.

This follows a six-month judging process. After being shortlisted by a variety of panels, they received a visit from the judges. They were given a two-hour interview, during which they had to provide evidence they were achieving the Matrix 8 Principles, which include service delivery, management and user feedback.

The award will be presented in November at a ceremony in London.

The Learning Hub was seen as unique within the NHS and reflects the importance placed by UHB on the regeneration benefits of providing employment for disadvantaged local communities. The Trust also recognises the business benefits of easier recruitment, better trained staff and enhanced retention rates.

The award is a credit to the Trust, especially Learning Hub Manager Rachel Burton and her team. Over the last 12 months, the Learning Hub team has been working hard to integrate ACTIVATE and Building Health into one unit while maintaining the previous quality of service.

Rachel said: "I just wanted to get some recognition for the staff for all that they managed to do in the last year. They worked extremely hard and it has all paid off."

This is the latest in a string of awards that the Learning Hub has won. Recent achievements include the Jobcentre + LEP (Local Employment Partnership Awards) Recruitment Innovation trophy and the Overall LEP achievement award for the West Midlands.

On asked whether the Learning Hub would be entering for the award next year, Rachel said: "We have some interesting projects underway for the next year including work with the Teenage Cancer Trust and a new mentoring service, so we will definitely be considering putting in an application."