Croydon's health heroes shortlisted for three national health awards
Croydon’s innovative health and care teams have today been recognised by the HSJ Awards for their outstanding contribution to healthcare in what has been an exceptional and challenging period across the sector (Tuesday 24 August).
Local health heroes are now being praised as some of the best in the country, following the shortlisting of over 1,000 entries in which they were named finalists in three award categories, including the prestigious ‘Acute and Specialist Trust of the Year’, which honours NHS Trusts demonstrating excellence while tackling its challenges head on.
The nomination for Croydon Health Services NHS Trust is a huge accolade for the organisation, which has supported the successful roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine to thousands of health and care staff and local residents, while leading the way in providing planned care for patients thanks to the Croydon Elective Centre, dubbed a ‘blueprint for NHS recovery’ in the wake of the pandemic.
Croydon’s Place Based Leader for Health and Trust Chief Executive, Matthew Kershaw said:
“We are delighted to have been shortlisted as one of the country’s leading NHS Trusts this year.
“This recognition reflects the collaborative efforts and the commitment of health and care staff all across Croydon, who have had a huge impact on the lives of those we care for.
“We have certainly achieved a lot over the last 12 months, despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic but our work is not done and we will continue to strive for further improvements, particularly in reducing health inequalities and in improving the experiences of our staff and patients, until we achieve our vision of excellent health and care for all.
“To be shortlisted against such strong competitors feels like a wonderful achievement and the nomination will certainly be a tremendous boost to staff at across Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, who work tirelessly to care for those who need us.”
Also recognised for her incredible clinical leadership is Jennifer Daniel, Service Manager for the innovative ‘One Croydon’ Integrated Community Network Plus (ICN+) which brings together local GPs, social care, mental health services, physiotherapists, pharmacists and voluntary groups in the heart of a community, improving access to local services and reducing health inequalities in some of the borough’s most deprived areas.
Talking about her nomination, Jennifer said:
“I feel honoured to be nominated for Clinical Leader of the year, which reflects not only my dedication but the dedication of the fantastic teams I work alongside.
“As a result of a huge amount of hard work by our multi-disciplinary s t a ff, we have been able to make signific ant chang es to our service model to improve the quality of care that we are able to deliver to Croydon residents. I am very fortunate that I work with some really inspirational colleagues that have been instrumental in helping to develop our ideas and make ICN+ a success. This nomination is a reflection of the work that we do, and I am delighted that it shines a light on integrated services.”
Councillor Stephen Mann, Croydon Council’s deputy cabinet member for families, health and social care, said:
“The ICN+ team are a great example of partners in the council, NHS and voluntary sector working together to support the wellbeing of local people in Croydon. Jennifer has been a key player in making this happen and this shortlisting is a real compliment to what she and her team have already achieved in just one year.”
As a finalist in the Patient Safety category, Croydon’s roll-out of HIV testing in its Emergency Department is also securing praise as well as saving lives.
Since its launch in May 2020, an unprecedented 38,395 of the borough’s emergency patients have been tested for HIV, improving early diagnosis rates and allowing clinical teams to offer more HIV care and support to patients in the first eight months than had been possible in the previous two years combined.
Dr Ian Cormack, Clinical Lead HIV Medicine at Croydon University Hospital
“This program is crucial for Croydon’s community, where the prevalence of HIV is three times the national average.
“Early diagnosis and treatment makes a huge difference to our patients and their loved ones and our teams have worked so hard to achieve some of the best testing rates in the country. This nomination makes every moment worthwhile.”
Winners will be announced at the official awards ceremony at Evolution London later this year (November 18th).
HSJ editor Alistair McLellan, commented:
“On behalf of all my colleagues, I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate Croydon Health Services NHS Trust and Jennifer on being nominated in three categories at this year’s HSJ Awards. The applications we receive always present our panel of judges with a very difficult task as the standard is unfailingly high and the breadth of innovation and passion for patient care is always so inspiring.
“This year, we really have been overwhelmed with the level of entries, particularly when set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and the huge challenges faced by our health and social care workforce.
“We are therefore looking forward to welcoming all our finalists to the live ceremony in November and joining us in celebrating their incredible achievements and commitment to excellence.”
Winners will be announced at the official awards ceremony at Evolution London later this year (November 18th). The full list of nominees for the HSJ Awards 2021 can be found on https://awards.hsj.co.uk/shortlist-2021.
Background
The most coveted accolade in UK healthcare, the HSJ awards is the largest annual benchmarking and recognition programme for the health sector. Over the last 40 years the awards have been celebrating healthcare excellence through huge political, technological and financial challenges within the sector. Through a rigorous, fair and transparent judging process the awards produce a roll call of the best organisations, teams and people in the NHS and the wider health sector.
This year’s judging panel was once again made up of a diverse range of highly influential and respected figures within the healthcare community, including Sir Bruce Keogh (Chair, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s FT); Marie Gabriel CBE (Chair, NHS Race and Health Observatory); and former HSJ Trust of the Year winners Ann Marr OBE (Chief Executive, St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals Trust) and Richard Mitchell (Chief Executive, Sherwood Forest Hospitals FT).