Alastair McLellan introduces this year’s winners

2013 has been a record breaking year for the HSJ Awards. We received 1,101 entries − the largest number ever received in the awards’ 32 year history – and 139 unique organisations made the shortlist.

Our 81 judges were kept busy, and had the privilege of reviewing some of the best work in UK healthcare, as well as the challenge of deciding who our winners should be.

HSJ awards 2013

HSJ awards 2013

2013 will be remembered as the year the Francis report exposed the full scale of the care failings at Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust. It painted a picture of an organisation where the basic values of compassionate healthcare had been lost.

‘There can surely be no better time, then, to recognise and celebrate those healthcare organisations working to ensure that compassion is at the centre of everything they do’

There can surely be no better time, then, to recognise and celebrate those healthcare organisations working to ensure that compassion is at the centre of everything they do.

We have therefore introduced a compassionate care category to this year’s awards,supported by the Department of Health and secretary of state Jeremy Hunt. Those shortlisted, and our winner, remind us that the NHS is a system which is striving to learn the lessons of Francis – and, in many instances, succeeding.

Complex challenges

In a year when the NHS has arguably faced greater scrutiny than ever before, with the Keogh review as well as the final Francis report placing the service in the spotlight, all our award winners provide real encouragement. They show a health service successfully finding ways to deal with very complex challenges in a very complex time.

That deserves celebration, and I offer our congratulations to all those on our shortlist and, in particular, to our award winners.

The winners

  • Compassionate Patient Care: Derby Hospitals Foundation Trust
  • Acute Sector Innovation: The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals Trust
  • Board Leadership: University College London Hospitals Foundation Trust
  • Clinical Research Impact: Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust
  • Creating Sustainable NHS Providers: Nottingham CityCare Partnership
  • Enhancing Care by Sharing Data and Information: University Hospitals of Leicester Trust with Nervecentre Software
  • Improved Partnerships between Health and Local Government: Care Plus Group
  • Improving Care with Technology: Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Foundation Trust
  • Improving Environmental and Social Sustainability: Barts Health Trust
  • Innovation in Mental Health: Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation Trust
  • Managing Long Term Conditions: Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group
  • Patient Safety: Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children Foundation Trust
  • Primary Care and Community Service Redesign: Care Plus Group
  • Primary Care Innovation: Leeds Community Healthcare Trust
  • Quality and Productivity: The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals Foundation Trust
  • Secondary Care Service Redesign: Southend University Hospital Foundation Trust
  • Staff Engagement: Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Foundation Trust
  • Workforce: Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust
  • Clinical Leader of the Year: Professor Simon Kay, The Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust
  • Chief Executive of the Year: NHS Blood and Transplant
  • Clinical Commissioning Group of the Year: Sandwell and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group
  • Provider Trust of the Year: Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust

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