We are pleased to announce the finalists for 2012

• Research Paper of the Year
• Improvement in Patient Safety
• Clinical Commissioning Team of the Year
• Working in Partnership
• The Karen Woo Award
• Excellence in Healthcare Education
• Clinical Leader of the Year
• Healthcare Communication Campaign
• Sport and Exercise Team of the Year
• Junior Doctor of the Year
• Transforming Patient Care using Technology
  

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Research Paper of the Year

This award recognises original research that has the potential to contribute significantly to improving health and health care

★ Effect of training traditional birth attendants on neonatal mortality (Lufwanyama Neonatal Survival Project): randomised controlled study

The LUNESP study’s purpose was to test the effectiveness of the neonatal resuscitation protocol in Zambia. It proved that a package of simple and inexpensive techniques can reduce neonatal mortality rates by nearly 50% in a rural setting. The intervention empowered the birth attendants themselves and provided a skill that will provide great benefit to their communities.

★ Cardiovascular Health Awareness Program (CHAP)
   
The highly innovative, population-based Cardiovascular Health Awareness Program (CHAPS) was designed to promote awareness of the importance of blood pressure monitoring and control to prevent cardiovascular disease, stroke and renal failure. The programme consisted of regular CVD and stroke risk assessments and blood pressure monitoring by trained volunteers in community pharmacies. More than 500 peer-trained volunteers promoted blood pressure control and healthy living, which is seen from the high levels of participation. Thanks to the programme, there has been a 9% annual reduction in hospital admissions for stroke, heart attack and heart failure among residents aged 65 and over. If this programme were to be applied in Ontario Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, it would result in approximately 5000, 120,000 and 30,000 fewer annual hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease.

★ Mortality after fluid bolus in African children with severe infection (FEAST trial)
   
Shock affects around 10% of children admitted to African hospitals and sadly, 11-22% of these children die, often within hours of admission. Although fluid resuscitation has been regarded as standard approach to treating shock in developed nations, it is unclear whether this approach could be safely used for African children. The FEAST trial was conducted in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and involved over 3000 children who presented with shock. Investigators of the trial have received international praise and recognition and results have been recognised as representing a landmark in clinical practice in Africa. The trial data confirms the detrimental effect of fluid in children with the most severe shock and demonstrates the importance of testing interventions for effectiveness in different settings. It serves as a model for future trials in resource poor settings and it is hoped that the trial will avert thousands of deaths a year from the inappropriate use of fluid.

★ Comparison of short-course multidrug treatment with standard therapy for visceral leishmaniasis in India
   
Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), the second largest parasitic killer in the world after malaria, affects populations in Asia, East and North Africa, South America and Southern Europe. Current drugs for VL can involve toxic effects and incur high costs and drug resistance is widespread in India with a chance of a resistance to new drugs in future. Alterantive have been used as a way to reduce the likelihood of resistance including shorter drug usage times (which would reduce costs), easier administration and better adherence to current treatments. This paper looks at a trial in India which compared three drug combinations all of which were less toxic and well tolerated, accompanied by cure rates of 97%. Duration of treatment was also shortened from 21-28 days to 8-11 days. The project shows encouraging results and the authors believe these new therapies can replace the old methods to extend the lives of the drugs for the elimination of VL.

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Improvement in Patient Safety

This award recognises teams making measurable improvements to quality and safety of health care

★ Reconfiguration of London's acute stroke services
    The NHS in London

The reconfiguration of London’s acute stroke services came after research showed that the quality of care a patient receives largely depends on where in London they live. With a 25% increase in chance of surviving or recovering from a stroke if treated in specialist care, commissioners came together across London to develop proposals for stroke services in London. A clinical expert panel with clinicians from both in and outside of London including consultants, nursing and therapy representatives, as well as other professionals, such as the London Ambulance Service, guided the development of these proposals. A new model of care was devised which ensured that care is consistent across London and steps were in place to ensure that patients received medical treatment as quickly and efficiently as possible. It is estimated that over 400 lives per year will be saved thanks to the new model. 

★ Saving Lives: Reducing Mortality at Royal Bolton Hospital
    Mortality Reduction Group, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust were concerned about the high mortality rates of trauma and stroke patients at the Royal Bolton Hospital and as such, a Trustwide Mortality Reduction group was formed. A Clinical Engagement Strategy was developed with five workstreams led by key consultants and four key aims were set up which included reducing hospital standard mortality rates by 10% or more in the first year and reducing delays for senior reviews of patients. Through the Saving Lives project, hospital mortality rate has fallen by 17% and the Hospital now fares higher than average in the Trust Risk Adjusted Mortality Index (TRAMI). Respiratory, gastroenterology and palliative care have all seen marked improvements and staff now say there is a “sense of pride in the service”. 

★ Reducing perinatal mortality in Birmingham through improved antenatal detection of intrauterine growth restriction
    West Midlands Perinatal Institute

The West Midlands Perinatal Institute is a PCT/Cluster hosted regional NHS organisation which seeks to enhance maternity and perinatal care by investigating the causes of high perinatal mortality, and developing strategies for preventing perinatal deaths. This unique organisation was set up following the consistently high perinatal morality rates in Birmingham with most deaths traditionally categorised as “unexplained”. Background work, however, showed that most of these deaths were due to foetus growth restriction, most of which were avoidable. Through new protocols, a training programme for midwives and obstetricians and enhancing the capability to provide ultrasound scans for those babies at risk, improvements were seen in the detection of growth restriction, stillbirths due to growth restrictions dropped to their lowest rate in seven years and stillbirths dropped to its lowest rate of that year with a key downward trend. The findings are considered to be due to improved antenatal detection and timely delivery of babies with growth restriction and now mothers have the right to make informed choices about further investigations and early delivery, if required.

★ Reducing Inpatient Falls
    Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals

Every year in the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, 1600 clinical incident reports will be submitted documenting patient falls. Falls can be devastating to patients, family members and carers, as a single fall may result in fear of falling that can begin a downward spiral of reduced mobility, leading to loss of function, independence and further falls. In 2009, the Trust organised a meeting of all ward managers, which was to be the start of the Reducing Inpatient Falls project. The project focussed on one geographical block accounting for almost a third of the falls in the Trust and a Deputy Chief of Safety was given complete freedom from generating action plans and reports. By working on a premise of a bigger impact by focussing on what you actually do in the moment rather than what you plan to do in an idealised future, the rate of falls fell by 32% in 12 months and there was a large reduction in the amount of falls per hospital bed stays. Three of the wards reduced their rate of falls by over 50%. Eight months into the project and eight further wards have reduced their falls rate by a further 29%: a continued improvement that is a product of positive falls behaviour spreading through imitation.

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Clinical Commissioning Team of the Year

★ Dudley Clinical Commissioning Group
   
Compiling a team of GPs, a Nurse Lead, a Practice Manager Lead, Finance Lead, Commissioning Lead, LMC representation and direct links into patient groups, the Dudley Clinical Commissioning Group covers a population of approximately 315,000 patients. It covers a diverse population which covers both high depravity areas as well as areas of affluence and has key commissioning priorities to address these inequalities. 

★ Durham Dales Clinical Commissioning Group
   
The Durham Dales Commissioning Team comprises key staff who work to commission and decommission services and reduce unnecessary secondary care referrals by providing care closer to home and ultimately striving towards better care for patients.  The team serves a population of 90,500 covering a diverse geographical area which brings significant challenges in delivering healthcare from small urban areas to large rural areas. The Durham Team recognise that a new, more innovative model of care was needed to address areas of concern which they strive to improve.

★ Healthworks Clinical Commissioning Group
   
With a registered population of over 150,000 in Birmingham and The Black Country, Health Works CCG has a high deprivation index and a varied ethnic mix. The group uses clinical commissioning to drive transformational change and improve quality of care using co-produced, population health approaches and innovative health and social care solutions. Health Work has chosen to apply the innovative experience- led commissioning (ELC) approach to its first challenge - improving end of life care.

★ NHS Nottingham City Clinical Commissioning Group
   
NHS Nottingham City Clinical Commissioning Group has a passion for improving health and NHS services in Nottingham. The ethos of the CCG is to be an inclusive organisation working as a team to seize the agenda presented by the Bill and shape it for the benefit of the local population. The CCG is responsible for a 342,000 population with high levels of deprivation, low educational attainment and unhealthy lifestyles which provide a focus for the group’s commitment to improvements in health.

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Working in Partnership

This award recognises an outstanding project developed in partnership between separate organisations that has improved patient care

★ Family Drug & Alcohol Court Intervention Team

Parental substance misuse affects a significant minority of children, impacting adversely on their health and wellbeing. A joint venture between the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust and the charity Coram, the multi-disciplinary team design a trial for change' to test whether parents can overcome their addictions to  meet their children's needs in a specific timeframe.  Parents are expected to abstain from substances, address difficulties driving their addiction, whilst creating a child-centred lifestyle. A multiagency plan is agreed with the family, social services and the treatment agencies and given authority by the court. Five London boroughs use the service, cited as an example of excellence in the Home Office's Drug Strategy (2010). In recent comparison of FDAC and other families, there were significantly higher rates of re-uniting families and parents ceasing substance misuse. It is estimated that FDAC saved the public purse £40,000 year for each family that recovered.

★ The Fit for Work Team

A 2008 government document outlined a number of policies to reduce sickness absence and improve health at work. These included 10 pilots across the country to trial early, case-managed interventions to facilitate an earlier return to work. This prompted the team from Leicester to set up a unique partnership to create a commissioning group to successfully bid for the pilot in liaison with a multidisciplinary team to deliver the service. The partnership was built from seven local commissioning bodies including JobCentre Plus, both PCTs and both Local Authorities. The FFWS only receives referrals from GPs who are encouraged to refer people on, or at risk of long term sickness absence. A jointly-agreed action plan is signed off with the patient at the initial consultation and subsequent support is tailored to the individual's needs. In the first 20 months the team received over 1000 referrals with 465 people discharged from the service so far, and 77% of people returning to or staying at work.

★ North Tyneside Falls Prevention Service

Falls are a ubiquitous problem for older people; 30-60% of over 65s fall per year. The collaboration came about through recognition of the clinical need, from Newcastle Hospitals Foundation Trust and Newcastle University, and subsequently embraced by a private primary care provider (Norprime), and significantly, Age UK. Uniquely, the team screen GP case notes for falls risk factors in all over 60s at participating practices. These individuals are sent a triage questionnaire , invited to attend a 1.5 hour review with a senior physiotherapist, a healthcare assistant who performs various tests, followed by a consultation with a geriatrician and given an individual care plan with details on onward referral secondary care, bone-densitometry, and strength training classes .A review has shown that the service makes a difference of 27 per 10,000 admissions, and if extrapolated to the entire North Tyneside PCT equates to a £2.16 million saving.

★ SCI-Diabetes Collaboration

The Scottish Health Plan of  2000 identified diabetes as a priority condition for NHS Scotland. Since 2002, Scottish Care Information - Diabetes Collaboration (SCI-DC) has evolved as the technical infrastructure to support the care of people with diabetes across the country. The team alongside their partners, have demonstrated sustained development and implementation of clinically useful tools for the care of people with diabetes using data captured from all 1050 general practices, all hospitals, screening services and laboratories. SCI-DC engaged with the diabetes managed clinical networks for each health board, providing the technological infrastructure to implement equitable, "joined-up" care. The team have also established a system for the nationwide retinopathy screening programme, screening over 180,000 diabetes patients annually. Collaboration and engagement with all fourteen health boards and the wider clinical teams has been the cornerstone to the success of SCI-DC.

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The Karen Woo Award

This award recognises an individual who has gone well beyond the call of duty to care for patients.

★ Hannah McLean
    African Prisons Project

For a year Hannah ran the Widows of the Nile hospice in Northern Uganda, with the inpatient capacity more than doubling during her time there. She also helped establish a medical centre at Kampala Remand Prison treating over 200 prisoners per week, whilst establishing a palliative care manual which has helped to train key nurses and carers working in Ugandan prisons. Her strategic input into the African Prisons Project has helped with the establishment of initiatives such as helping medical staff to study by distance learning, and provision of a wide range of health activities, including sports and counselling to hundreds of  prisoners and staff. Hannah has also been commended for her work as an F1 doctor at the Royal Derby Hospital

★ Lucy Mathen
    Second Sight

Lucy retrained as an ophthalmologist after 15 years as a TV reporter, inspired by an interview with a doctor in Afghanistan. Troubled by the huge problem of cataract blindness in India, Lucy established the charity Second Sight, relinquishing her job to run the charity unpaid and  full time, allowing her to travel all over remote areas of rural north India to find the best eye teams. Second Sight now works exclusively in the Indian states of Bihar and Orissa which have the worst cataract blindness problem in the world and which are still largely ignored. Lucy has led the transformation of the once tiny Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital to be the largest facility in Bihar, where now over 50,000 blind individuals every year have their sight restored.Teams seeks these patients out in the remotest areas, transporting them back to hospital in small boats, cart and on foot. As a passionate footballer, Lucy also kick-started the hospital football academy which last year enrolled 42 village girls, replacing child marriage with education and job prospects.

★ Magdi Hanafy
    Operation Hernia Leighton Branch

A full time general surgery consultant at Leighton Hospital, Crewe, Magdi simultaneously leads the hospital’s Operation Hernia branch, providing hernia operations to patients in areas of Africa with inaccessible health facilities. Magdi is committed to providing free surgery to these individuals, especially those afflicted with large hernias affecting their ability to provide financial support to their families. Magdi successfully garnered the support of senior management at Leighton Hospital, creating a team of nurses and surgeons that support the charity’s work, both in fund-raising to provide the medical equipment required and travelling to Africa to carry out the operations. Magdi has been particularly commended for his dedication to the charity, inspiring and motivating participating staff, whilst organising the finest details of the trips to Africa to ensure the most effective  patient care.

★ Michael Bryant
    Aberdeen Women's Centre/ Mercy Ships

Michael has been working as an unpaid volunteer in Sierra Leone for the last eighteen months, a country with the world’s highest child mortality rate and crude medical facilities. He is a paediatric  physician in an outpatient clinic run by the charity Mercy Ships, consulting in Krio, the local language.  The clinic treats 1200 children every month, previously 700, prioritising care of the most unwell. Michael also supervises a vaccination clinic overseeing the introduction of the pneumococcus and rotavirus vaccines, and a chronic disease clinic, whilst simultaneously designing a nationally recognised training program for the nursing staff. As a result, the health of the community has greatly improved and fewer children have suffered died from acute but treatable conditions.

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Excellence in Healthcare Education

This award recognises a project which demonstrates outstanding innovation in health care education and performance improvement

★ Head Smart: Be Brain Tumour Aware
   Children's Brain Tumour Research Centre, Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust and the Royal College of Paedaitrics and  Child Health

“Head Smart: Be Brain Tumour Aware” was designed to address the delays in diagnosis of brain tumours in children. A prolonged time between symptom onset and diagnosis in childhood may lead to increased learning difficulties, visual loss, mobility problems and hormone abnormalities in survivors. This academic, professional and charitable partnership aims to reduce delays in diagnosis by educating young people, families, carers and healthcare professionals about the presentation and initial investigation of symptoms associated with childhood brain tumours. Through this campaign, the diagnosis time was reduced by 0.4 months in 146 children and the awareness of the Head Smart has increased which those involved are hopeful will be the start of an improved diagnosis time for children nationwide. 

★ Lessons Learnt: Building a Safer Foundation
     NHS North West, North Western Deanery and Imperial College London CPSSQ
     
“Lessons learnt: Building a Safer Foundation” is a collaborative project between NHS North West, the North Western Deanery and Imperial College London’s Centre for Patient Safety and Service Quality (CPSSQ) involving educationalists, academics, patient safety experts and junior and senior doctors. It was set up to address the growing concern of sustainable improvements to patient safety. It is the largest UK project to develop, implement and evaluate patient safety in the North West region and aims to develop a sustainable means of delivering patient safety training, build capacity for patient safety training through recruiting and training senior doctors as Facilitators, engage clinical training providers and commissioners, improve Foundation trainees’ knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviours in patient safety and build the UK evidence-base for patient safety training through robust evaluation.  

★  “Paired Learning”
     Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
     
“Paired Learning” is an innovative work-based peer learning leadership development programme, initiated at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in 2010 and now being adopted in a number of organisations across the NHS. The aim was to bring managers and junior doctors together, something which prior to this was quite unusual: this was facilitated to improve communication, peer-learning and a stronger understanding of each other’s roles and the impact each have on delivering high quality patient care. 

★ SCRIPT: An innovative e-Learning programme to improve the prescribing of newly qualified doctors
    NHS West Midlands
   
NHS West Midlands commissioned the development of SCRIPT (Standard Computerised Revalidation Instrument for Prescribing and Therapeutics) following an indication that many newly qualified doctors are poorly prepared for prescribing, which was highlighted by the General Medical Council. SCRIPT is a web-based e-Learning programme which supports newly qualified doctors to become safer and more effective prescribers. Now, all West Midland Foundation Trainees are registered with the programme, 82% of which, when surveyed, strongly agreed that SCRIPT is useful in improving prescribing standards and knowledge of trainees.

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Clinical Leader of the Year

This award recognises motivational and inspirational leaders who have led clinical teams to achieve real service improvements

★ Duwarakan Satchithananda
    University Hospital North Staffordshire

Dr Satchithananda is a heart failure specialist at the University Hospital of North Stafforshire. Having been one of the worst performing health economies for heart failure nationally, Dr Satchithananda implemented two interventions providing community based symptom relief and what would have been standard in patient heart failure care. Now, the profile of heart failure has increased locally and Dr Satchithananda has motivated specialist teams into becoming a more cohesive and productive unit. His approach has led to the sustainability of newer methods of heart failure care delivery in the current economic climate.

★ Jon Cardy
   West Suffolk Hospital A&E Department

Dr Jon Cardy is a Consultant Intensivist and is Clinical Director for A&E at West Suffolk Hospital. Dr Cardy took on this role with no previous experience of leading an A&E department. With historic poor performance and despite annual attendance rates exceeding 55,000 managed in a department designed for only 24,000; using existing facilities, same staff and no additional budget he led a dramatic transformation in performance over the whole range of national A&E care quality indicators. This included hitting No1 spot in the country on the 4 hour wait indicator. Although this department was under immense pressure he never let patient care be compromised for targets, instilling a non-blame culture and inspiring Trust-wide interdepartmental cooperation.

★ John C John
Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital

Dr John works in one of the largest elective orthopaedic hospitals in the country. He has led the introduction of a new approach to accelerate the rehabilitation process and reduce stay post-surgery. His work has also ensured a major cultural change within the hospital trust regarding post-operative rehabilitation. Furthermore, Dr John’s work with nurses and physiotherapists, the Drugs and Therapeutics Committee and fellow surgeons has allowed improvements in length of stay and post-operative recovery, savings thousands of pounds and recovery time

★ Pradeep Khanna
   Aneurin Bevan Health Board

Dr Pradeep Khanna works for the Aneurin Bevan Health Board which has a population of 600,000. He has worked to unite 11 organisations including five Local Authorities, five Local Health Boards and voluntary organisations, who now work together using a whole systems integrated Health and Social Care Plan to meet the aspirations of the frail individual and in the process transfer resources from secondary to primary care. Due to Dr Khanna’s drive, leadership skills and influence, a new model of service provision has been implemented with hospital board, PCTs and Local Authorities. There is also now a new Community Health and Social Care Resource Team providing re-ablement and hospital at home, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

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Healthcare Communication Campaign

Recognising a campaign or a communication to educate patients on health

★ Birmingham Whittall Street Clinic's website launch and advertising campaign on Facebook
    Whittall Street Clinic, Birmingham

The Whittall Street Clinic in Birmingham set up a “Sexual Health Myths” website, dedicated to exploring and explaining the most common incorrect beliefs held about sexual health and STIs. The website contains the UK’s only truly automated 24 hour online booking system which allows for self-triage and online booking of sexual health appointments. Also available online are short videos, steps involved for STI screening, correct method for condom use and the significance for partner notification for patients with an STI. The website was accompanied by a Facebook campaign which directs certain users to the website. Thanks to the campaign, over 12,000 online appointments for STI screening have been made since December 2011 and website usage has increased by 41% compared to usage before the campaign. 

★ Move More
    Macmillan Cancer Support

With clear evidence proving the benefits of being active during and after cancer treatment, Macmillan launched a media campaign in August 2011 to promote the importance of being active to the public and health professionals with a view to raising awareness. Included in this campaign were a patient resource pack, a website page, endorsement for health professionals and patient information about the benefits of being active. Pedometers and social media promotion opportunities were offered including an online chat with a specialist physiotherapist and a promotional film involving celebrities Jo Brand and Jo Scanlan. The Move More campaign has achieved worldwide coverage as well as appearing on every major UK news channel. Even more important is a report showing that patients are now more likely to try gentle pursuits such as walking, bowling or swimming with the 'permission' of Macmillan.

★ A radio phone in programme for mental health education and promotion
    BBC Radio Cornwall

Dr Richard Laugharne and Dr Rohit Shankar from Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust received a Beddoes Fellowship from the South West Strategic Health Authority to facilitate twelve radio phone-in programmes over one year for mental health education and promotion. The aim of the project was to provide information and education about mental health conditions and covered a range of issues including dementia, depression, eating disorders and learning disabilities. Over 96% of callers agreed that the programme achieved its aims and the programme has received a very positive response to questions about understanding mental health issues.

★ A World Record for World AIDS Day
    90TEN with 56 Dean Street, G-A-Y club and Boyz Magazine

Approximately 1 in 4 of the 35,000 people in the UK with HIV are undiagnosed. Two thirds of the gay men who have HIV are undiagnosed and encouraging regular routine testing is the only way to target this population. The undiagnosed are three and a half times more likely to transmit  HIV to others which is why sexual health clinic 56 Dean Street, G-A-Y club promoter Jeremy Joseph and Boyz Magazine worked with healthcare communication agency 90TEN to develop a community led health campaign to raise awareness of the importance of regular HIV testing amongst London’s gay men. The Guinness World Record Attempt to carry out as many HIV tests as possible gained widespread support, over 467 people were tested at G-A-Y bar (breaking the world record) and the project raised over £12,000 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The campaign was widely reported by gay media agencies and was widely tweeted and blogged during the day.

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Sport and Exercise Team of the Year

This award recognises teams making a valuable contribution to promoting physical activity, improving the care of athletes or medical services to the sporting community.

★ British Horseracing Authority

Following 5 years of planning,  the BHA Medical Department (in collaboration with its IT department) have introduced the Racecourse Injury Management Initiative (RIMANI) system that can be effectively used online by 238 doctors at any of the 61 racecourses in Great Britain. Replacing a 25 year old paper system, RIMANI ensures that every licensed jockey (of 2,000) who is ill, falls or is injured on a race day can be logged as being FIT or UNFIT to race ride (in real time). Racecourse doctors have access to dedicated RIMANI laptops where they can view the current medical status of each jockey. Data regarding illness and injury is reviewed by the team daily and a final diagnosis is entered using the Calgary Codes. Experienced nurses delivered on-site training prior to 'going live' in early 2012 and continue to provide support to racecourse doctors. The system will allow the team to conduct a detailed review of the injury data from GB racing.

★ England & Wales Cricket Board Science & Medicine Team

The team, based at  Loughborough University, provides support to all four professional touring teams, as well as the 18 First-class County Cricket Clubs. The team have consistently exceeded their own tough objectives which include minimising the impact of injury & illness and ensuring that the players achieve an optimal level of physical conditioning for best performance. 2011 data demonstrates that if you played for Australia or India you were more than doubly likely to miss play through injury than the England team. A strategy to improve and de-stigmatise mental health in the game has also successfully been developed, supported with plans for each player and access to a helpline. A web based injury surveillance system devised by the team, and exported to international teams since, identified a deficiency in helmet designs due to an increase in facial injuries, resulting in improvements to the standards of helmet manufacture.

★ Leicester Kidney Team

The Leicester Kidney Exercise Team established their project in 2011, recognising that appropriate exercise should form an integral part of the care package for all kidney patients. Activities are a blend of research and service development, including introduction of specially-adapted exercise bikes in a dialysis unit enabling 30 patients to undertake supervised exercise. Evaluation includes clinical monitoring, physical performance measures, and questionnaires on exercise beliefs. Feedback from patients is overwhelmingly positive with interest from other units in developing their own programmes. The team have recruited 38 pre-dialysis patients in their randomised trial of 8 weeks lower-limb resistance training, with 22 completing the protocol so far. The team were partners in successful bids to partake in further major initiatives to help promote exercise for kidney patients on a wider stage.

★ Paralympics GB Health Care Team

The multidisciplinary health care team have been appointed outside their full time roles to provide the provision of world-class health care for athletes for the largest British Paralympic Team ever. The team leaders have tackled previous challenges by introducing a number of innovations: a ‘one team' philosophy . This includes careful recruiting of a broader base of practitioners with relevant experience, introducing a comprehensive training programme with team building and educational opportunities. personal development plans, training camps, masterclasses, an e- newsletter,  educational materials and research articles made available through a ‘ Drop Box ‘system,  and rigorous planning of  the  Medical Performance Centre where healthcare will be delivered – all to fulfil their ultimate aim to 'to send the best prepared team to London 2012.’
 

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Junior Doctor of the Year

This award acknowledges the doctor in training who has most notably contributed to medicine or healthcare, and significantly impacted on the wellbeing of the wider community.

★ Alexander Finlayson

Alexander has worked across clinical medicine (Outstanding Commitment to Foundation Programme Award), training (Chairman of the Oxford Deanery Trainees Committee - representing the views of training in the Oxford Deanery), Academia (winning a Kennedy scholarship to Harvard, research for the Mayo Clinic, and Oxford University Academic Clinical Fellow, publishing a book and several peer reviewed papers), Alexander’s most notable achievement has been to establish MedicineAfrica, a programme offering medical students and graduating doctors in Somaliland the opportunity to receive weekly live case based education in small groups from faculties across the UK with follow up mentoring. This project is now being developed in Palestine, Tanzania and Ghana.

★ Clare Attwood

An anaesthetics trainee, Clare spent part of 2011 working at Juba Teaching Hospital in South Sudan, where she helped to introduce a postgraduate medical education programme. In a country with the highest rate of maternal mortality in the world, Clare's anaesthetics training programme resulted in an increased rate of spinal anaesthetic use during caesarian section from 10% to 40%. Prior to this ketamine, used in 90% of cases, carried a significant bleeding risk. Clare and Harvard colleagues established a blood bank; a particular challenge with unreliable electricity supply, minimal funding and cultural superstition surrounding blood donation. Clare trained 112 nurses in malariology and triage, and agreed an annual anaesthetics budget with the Ministry of Health ensuring supplies for the future. 

★ David Attwood

A newly-qualified registrar, David spent part of 2011 at Juba Teaching Hospital in South Sudan, helping to devise a postgraduate medical education programme, delivering teaching modules offering formal mentoring and training. David simultaneously headed the Emergency Medical Ward (EMW), a position which had him directly leading clinical care, resulting in a 45% relative reduction in malaria-related deaths following the introduction of interventions including training of 112 nurses in malaria and triage, creating an intensive care bed, and ensuring that medications were consistently available. He also designed a business case worth $42,000 (US) to develop a four-bed ITU unit and assisted with re-housing 131 medical students displaced from Khartoum.

★ Hannah McLean
 
For a year Hannah ran the Widows of the Nile hospice in Northern Uganda, with the inpatient capacity more than doubling during her time there. She also helped establish a medical centre at Kampala Remand Prison treating over 200 prisoners per week, whilst establishing a palliative care manual which has helped to train key nurses and carers working in Ugandan prisons. Her strategic input into the African Prisons Project has helped with the establishment of initiatives such as helping medical staff to study by distance learning, and provision of a wide range of health activities, including sports and counselling to hundreds of  prisoners and staff. Hannah has also been commended for her work as an F1 doctor at the Royal Derby Hospital

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 Transforming Patient Care using Technology

This award recognises the role that technology plays in improving efficiencies as well as outcomes for patients

★ Healthy Outlook: COPD forecast alert service
    The Health Team, Met Office

Weather conditions can significantly increase the risk of ill health and hospital admissions for people who have COPD. The Met Office has created Healthy Outlook to help people with COPD take control of their own health. Patients who opt-in to take part in the service are alerted by a recorded voice call when poor conditions are forecast, explaining how they could be affected, referring  them to a patient pack with extra advice, and asking questions eg about medication, where the patient’s response can be fed back to their doctor. An evaluation of Healthy Outlook in Moray for Winter 2009/10 has reinforced the strong benefits of the service. 50% of respondents reported having had no hospital admissions compared to previous years, generating a potential saving of approximately 40 emergency admissions which represents a financial saving of around £179,100.

★ Intelligent Healthcare in the Twenty-First Century - Design and Use of C-ROQAS (Cardiac Recovery from Operation Quality Assessment System)
  C-ROQAS Team, The London Chest Hospital

Cardiac surgery encompasses a number of complex procedures that generate a high risk for patient mortality and morbidity C-ROQAS, devised by a team from Bart’s and the London NHS Trust, is a system for data collection and real-time analysis of inpatient progress following cardiac surgery and easily adaptable to any medical specialty. Locally, it has helped optimise clinical performance and enhance fiscal efficiency. Patients are entered into the system at time of surgery with a detailed description of their procedure. Each post-operative day it is updated on the patient's progress, with the capability to evaluate morbidity and the level of intervention and cost required. In a study of diabetes patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting the incidence of appropriate referral for optimisation of diabetes control increased from 8% to 85%, the incidence of wound infection decreased and the patient stay decreased by 3.2 days, equating to a considerable cost saving.

★ Laboratory  Medicine Electronic Requesting and Reporting with Positive Patient Identification at the Bedside.
   EPR Order Comms Team, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust

Mislabelling of specimens taken from patients has been related to a significant delay in patient treatment or even death. A team from the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust team have introduced a system as part of a Trust wide Electronic Patient Record. It works by identifying patients at the bedside by barcode scanning of their wristband and printing specimen labels for all lab discipline specimen types. The system has removed the need for the handwriting of request cards and the associated clinical risks and delays, and has completely transformed the workflow of phlebotomy staff. For the first time clinicians can track the status of their specimen samples. The system is to be rolled out across all of the Oxford University Hospitals sites with an estimated on-going annual cost saving of £1,187,053.

★The Wireless Working System for out of hours care
  Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

Out of hours care is a time when hospital services are most stretched and mortality is highest, with a  major issue has being coordination and communication between the wards and the team members. A team from Nottingham NHS Trust have successfully introduced a wireless communication system active across ward desktop PCs, a tablet PC held by the hospital at night coordinator and mobile phones held by the junior doctors. The system has been adopted across two campuses and has led to major improvements in cost, staff satisfaction and efficiency. These have included a reduction in average length of stay, reported untoward clinical incidents, and emergency calls and better resource utilisation including real cash releasing savings of £1133,000 per annum, bringing tangible benefits  to the hitherto neglected aspect of out of hours hospital care.
 

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