Staffordshire NHS nominated for five awards

Staffordshire Integrated Care Board (SSOT ICB), which coordinates care across GPs, hospitals and local councils in the county, is up for four awards at the HSJ Digital Awards 2023 and is nominated twice in the same category at the Make a Difference Awards 2023.

The ICB’s use of digital systems to better support patients is being recognised, along with its commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Dr Paul Edmondson-Jones MBE, Staffordshire Chief Medical Officer, said: “Digital systems that doctors, nurses and therapists use when treating patients may go unnoticed, but they are vital for providing high quality care.

“It is also essential to address health inequalities in society by shaping our services to be accessible for everyone, both as colleagues and patients, regardless of ethnicity, disability, age, religion, sexuality and postcode.

“We are delighted to see our teams’ hard work on these priorities rewarded and celebrated in this way. We wish all of them the very best of luck, knowing they are already winners for the difference they are making to our patients, staff and communities.”

The ICB’s shortlisted projects include a virtual work experience programme to address staff capacity issues, a cloud-based MedOptimise tool to improve medicines management and an artificial intelligence-guided programme that has reduced health inequalities and prevented 34% of A&E attendances.

An Inclusion School offering interactive workshops to health and care staff about different groups in society has been specifically nominated for a Make a Difference Award, along with the ICB’s larger inclusive programme giving all staff a voice shortlisted in the same category.

HSJ Digital Awards winners will be announced at a ceremony in Manchester on Thursday, June 22, while the Make a Difference Awards will be handed out at the Watercooler Event on Tuesday 25 April in London.

Other local partners nominated for the HSJ Digital Awards include Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (MPFT), which is up for three awards.

MPFT is shortlisted for its MySENSE project and Sandbox digital mental health platform, with the latter being nominated twice.

North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust is nominated for its All Age Wellbeing portal.