THE end of an emotional night at The Halliwell Jones Stadium saw a much-loved Warrington doctor receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Doctor Richard Briggs, who retires this autumn, has been working for the NHS for most its existence and is the director of medical education and a consultant paediatrician specialising in children with allergies at Warrington Hospital.

He was given the lifetime award at the Warrington Guardian's Inspiration Awards as thanks for a remarkable career as he retires later this year.

READ > These are the winners at our 2018 Inspiration Awards

Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust chief executive, Mel Pickup, introduced the worthy winner to the stage with a tribute to his years of service in the NHS.

She said: "Richard is an absolute inspiration to his trainees and to all his colleagues.

"He has embraced the monumental changes in healthcare over the years, coupled with the changes in technology and working practices.

"He has overseen a significant growth in the Trust’s paediatric service, going from three paediatricians when he joined to nine today and from three junior doctors supporting them to 16.

"He pursued the care of children with a speciality in allergies, well before allergies which are quite high profile today were ever considered quite so dangerous.

"Doctor Briggs is a genuine, thoughtful, and most importantly, a kind doctor in the truest sense of the word and an absolute gentleman and I want to thank him for making such a difference to the many thousands of children he’s cared for throughout his amazing career.”

She also spoke of how his career has spanned the generations of health care.

She added: "Richard remembers life without a mobile phone and an MRI-scanner and wonders how he used to manage in the ‘good old days’.

"He joined the NHS in the days where doctors worked a 120-hour week as routine, and thankfully survived a car accident after he fell asleep at the wheel on his way home from work."

Dr Briggs took to the stage amid a standing ovation from the audience.

He said: “It’s difficult when you hear someone describe a person and that person happens to be you.

"But, as so many people have said this evening, it’s down to the team which is behind us.

"I must thank particularly those who have worked with me in Warrington in the paediatric team and the education team, to make it possible for me to help a large number of children and their families and to help trainees.

"It’s really very exciting to be given this award having worked for the NHS for most of it’s time.”