Online hospital radio station YYFM wins health board award

A grassroots hospital radio station has been recognised for its impact on patients at a health board awards ceremony.

YYFM, which broadcasts a range of on-demand programming over the internet, won a partnership working award at the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board’s Staff Recognition Awards held last month.

The project, which was launched in February 2021, was the idea of hospital admin worker Steven Davies – a familiar face to hospital visitors and patients because of his work on the reception desk.

At the time of the launch, Steven explained: “I came up with the idea because of the hospital’s single-room environment. It’s fair to say the hospital room TV sets were stuck on one channel, and in this day and age we had to do something better to combat the loneliness and isolation felt by some patients.

“Was there a way to bring more entertainment to the patients?”

After successfully putting in a funding bid to health board bosses, Steve then approached Caerphilly County Borough Council and the University of South Wales to get the project started.

He was put in touch with University of South Wales (USW)’s Community Radio Tutor Steve Johnson, who in turn enlisted the help of journalism students to produce content for the station.

On the award win, Mr Davies thanked all of the contributors and supporters of the project.