A behind-the scenes team at Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW) have been crowned winners at the Bright Ideas in Health Awards.
The awards, which returned after a one-year hiatus during the pandemic, celebrate the achievements of individuals and teams working within the NHS, industry and academia, who have improved services provided to patients, either through a technical innovation or through better service delivery.
The team behind a project to roll out online patient consultations for patients at CNTW were named winners in the ‘Demonstrating an Impact upon Patient Safety and/or Quality Improvement’ category at the virtual ceremony on Thursday, 25 November.
Gill Sanderson, head of digital customer operations at CNTW, said: “We are delighted to receive this Bright Ideas in Health Award. It is a real testament to the team and their hard work implementing the OneConsultation online consultations project. This work allowed clinicians to continue to provide care during the pandemic when face-to-face appointments weren’t possible, and has received glowing feedback from both our staff and service users.”
Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, chair designate of the Integrated Care Board for the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System, said: “Innovation is vital to the future of our health and care system. This year’s Bright Ideas in Health Awards has certainly demonstrated the wealth of talent, expertise and passion that exists in the North East and North Cumbria, which has been especially important during the pandemic.
“We’re delighted to be main sponsor of the awards and have been impressed by the sheer scale of work happening by individuals and teams to create and drive through new solutions and ways of working to benefit the people in our care across the region.
“Congratulations to all the winners and runners up and to everyone who has participated, they have certainly risen to the challenge of developing innovative solutions for the challenges we face today and in the future.”
The winners in the 10 categories receive a cash prize and support from innovation experts at the Academic Health Science Network for the North East and North Cumbria, which organises the awards.
(Pictured above: The Digital Services team at the HSJ Patient Safety Awards 2021 ceremony on 20 September, where their work was also shortlisted for ‘patient safety innovation of the year’.)