Categories

This award seeks to recognise innovations that have demonstrable potential to significantly and positively impact the NHS’s ambition to reach Net Zero by 2040. 

Innovation has a key role to play in the greener NHS strategy - use of remote consultations and remote monitoring can significantly reduce patient and clinical travel; medical technologies and devices can aide in the reduction of single use plastic from the patient pathway; and more innovative devices such as novel asthma inhalers can minimise the release of harmful gasses into the atmosphere.

We welcome applications for this award that can demonstrate a positive impact on Net Zero in any form.

To score highly with the judges we will be looking for applications that:

• Highlight a clear link to a key ambition within the greener NHS strategy.
• Demonstrate significant impact, preferably with real world evaluation studies.
• Have the potential to be replicated and adoptable by the wider NHS (and potentially globally).
• Are sustainable within the patient pathway without a significant and unrealistic continued investment that could hamper wide-scale adoption.

Within your submission, please ensure you outline the following:

• What was the challenge faced.
• Your approach to tackling the issue.
• Impact delivered to date and projected future impact.
• Lessons learnt.
• Scope for spreading idea or innovation to further support the NHS to achieve its net zero targets.

The winners of this award will demonstrate measures taken to increase diversity and representation, fostering innovative ideas and solutions from all parts of the workforce to provide a range of solutions that meet the needs of the diverse populations and communities the NHS serves.

Diversity is key to the effective adoption of innovation. Diversity not only enables a greater pool of ideas; it can also bring fresh perspectives to challenge established ways of working. We will not succeed in tackling the NHS’s greatest challenges without diverse innovators, or diversity among those driving forward change.

Teams, organisations or health and care systems, which can best demonstrate involvement from all sections of their staff and the community, seeking to gain ideas and new ways of working from across its workforce, particularly providing opportunities to underrepresented groups, will be recognised within this award.

To score highly with the judges we will be looking for applications that:

• Demonstrate clear commitment to diversity by removing systemic barriers and positively enabling access to training and opportunities for all.
• Demonstrate impact from actions taken to improve representation and remove barriers to involvement.
• Demonstrate the wider impact on patient care and outcomes through the greater engagement of people from diverse backgrounds in innovation and change. 
• Clear commitment to understanding the views of all staff and patient groups and using these to drive forward innovation and positive change.

Within your submission, please ensure you outline the following:

• Existing position and evidence of approach to change.
• Evidence of values driving forward a step change in diversity and representation.
• Demonstration of how people with protected characteristics have been involved.
• Evidence of broad and diverse engagement to increase impact of innovation or change.

This award recognises teams, organisations and systems which put patient and public involvement at the heart of delivering innovation and transforming care.

For innovation and transformation to succeed, we need to ensure solutions best reflect the needs of those that will be using the services. Involving people with lived experience is vital to the success of transformation in health services, and best practice shows this involvement should be fostered at every stage of the innovation development. 

Applicants for this award should demonstrate excellent use of patient and public involvement and co-production in the design and roll-out of an innovation or transformation initiative. Judges will be particularly keen to see teams who demonstrate innovative approaches to their involvement activity. 

To score highly with the judges we will be looking for applications that:

• Demonstrate a clear commitment to patient and public involvement and demonstrate how it has been core throughout all stages of the adoption and spread of a new innovation, initiative or change. 
• Demonstrate actionable change as a result of patient involvement, leading to improvements in the final programme.
• Show innovative approaches to engaging audiences in the design of services, innovations and transformations.

Within your submission, please ensure you outline the following:

• Steps taken to ensure patients and the public were involved in the development and roll-out of the innovative approach.
• Evidence of patient and public co-design in solutions.
• Descriptions of how and when patient and public representatives were involved, consulted and engaged throughout the process.
• Information about how participants were selected and how representative of end-users they were. 
• Key considerations adopted to ensure excellence.
• What value or change did public involvement bring to the project.

Innovations that have the greatest impact or potential impact, should spread quickly to create the greatest transformation for patients and clinicians. This award recognises ideas and initiatives that have been scaled and adopted rapidly and widely, creating impact across a wider geography. 

Applicants for this award should demonstrate the spread their idea has had, and the impact it has potential to deliver elsewhere.

To score highly with the judges we will be looking for entries that:

• Evidence the impact their innovation has already delivered and the potential to be scaled elsewhere.
• Proactive sharing of ideas to support other health and care systems or organisations to learn from success.
• Evidence of greater impact from innovation.
• Demonstration of learning throughout the spread process, making clear changes and adaptations based on experience.
• Demonstrate the scalability of an innovation.

Within your submission, please ensure you outline the following:

• Evidence of spread of innovation wider than initial roll-out.
• Impact of an innovation both in the initial locality and spreading further than its origin.
• Best practise in learning and sharing innovations and ideas.
• Evidence of rapid deployment of a tried and tested solution.

The NHS workforce is the backbone of health and care services. How we nurture and enable our teams to drive forward positive change is key to how we deliver excellence in care.

This award recognises teams, organisations, or partnerships working to support their workforce by delivering innovations that release time to care or drive forward efficiencies to enable frontline clinicians to do what they do best – see and treat patients.

We are looking for entries from groups or organisations who can demonstrate the adoption and spread of innovation that has enabled transformation for the workforce.

To score highly with the judges we will be looking for applications that:

• Evidence the impact their innovation and impact has had on workforce challenges.
• Demonstrate a clear involvement of staff in the delivery of the solutions. 
• Evidence of innovation or change positively impacting staff through releasing time to care; delivering efficiencies or improving ways of working.

Within your submission, please ensure you outline the following:

• Description of workforce challenge and impact on teams.
• How was the initiative rolled-out, including evidence of staff engagement.
• Impact delivered to date and anticipated long term impact.
• Ability to share and spread idea to other health and care systems.

This award seeks to recognise the innovation or innovations offering the greatest potential to significantly and positively tackle health inequalities. Recognition will be given to those teams and organisations contributing to NHS England’s Core20PLUS5 approach.

Innovation can play a significant role in helping to address the barriers that prevent equitable access to health and care. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic both highlighted and exacerbated existing health inequalities in our health and care system. Innovation and transformation now provide us with the opportunity to address these disparities and create a more equitable health service for all.

We welcome applications for this award that can demonstrate a positive impact in tackling health inequalities.

To score highly with the judges we will be looking for applications that:

• Highlight a clear link to tackling health inequalities and where possible, a synergy with the Core20PLUS5 approach.
• Evidence of impact from the change on patients, communities or workforce.
• Evidence of involvement from patients and the public in development of solutions that really work.
• Demonstrate initiatives with the potential to be replicated and adopted by the wider NHS.

Within your submission, please ensure you outline the following:

• Background to challenge – what was the inequality and who was affected?
• Link to the Core20PLUS5 priorities as set out by NHS England.
• Approach to addressing the challenge.
• Involvement of patients and publics in addressing the challenges and developing the solution.
• Impact of project locally.
• Ability to spread idea broader/nationally.

This award recognises efforts outside of health services to address the factors that most impact the health and well-being of a population.

Research shows that social determinants of health are more important in influencing population health than health care services or lifestyle choices. Those factors, including access to adequate housing, employment and education as well as social inclusion, can significantly influence how and when people access health and care.

This award will recognise efforts at integrated care system (ICS) level to address the wider social determinants of health and well-being that impact population health.

To score highly with the judges we will be looking for applications that:

• Evidence analysis and understanding of the factors influencing health in a local population, and measures being adopted to address these more broadly than health alone.
• Evidence of collaborative working to address population health, across all ICS partners and recognition of roles each play in supporting our health and care systems to thrive.
• Evidence of innovation or positive change adopted to address the challenges faced in improving the overall health and well-being of populations.

Within your submission, please ensure you outline the following:

• Background to population demographics and challenges faced.  
• Approach to adopting population health management to improve overall health and well-being.
• Evidence of approach addressing the wider inequalities that exist at society level.
• Evidence of a wider focus on social determinants of health to improve health at ICS level.
• Ability to spread approach to other health and care systems.

This award recognises health and care systems where a culture of innovation is the bedrock of how things are delivered. It will celebrate ICSs with the culture, capability and track record of adopting and spreading innovation at scale.

Strong culture is key to innovation and transformation, empowering people throughout organisations to identify opportunities and drive forward transformation.

Winners in this category will evidence positive action to instil a positive culture of change. The award will go to health and care systems demonstrating excellence in collaboration to drive forward the innovation and transformation agenda across the ICS footprint.

To score highly with the judges we will be looking for applications that:

• Evidence cultural change resulting in greater adoption of innovation.
• Evidence approaches to innovation impacting patient and staff experience and outcomes.
• Evidence of empowering staff and teams to take forward innovative ideas and approaches.
• Demonstration of strategy underpinning innovative practice.
• Evidence of shared values driving forward a culture of innovation.
• Evidence of multiple innovations that have collectively delivered impact. 
• Demonstrate leadership in innovation and innovative practice.

Within your submission, please ensure you outline the following:

• Measures taken to encourage innovative culture.
• Approach to positively engaging staff and partners in innovation.
• Impact of innovative approach. 
• Demonstration of positive feedback that has resulted in change.

Academic health science networks (AHSNs) help bridge the gap between health and care and industry partners, to link promising ideas and initiatives that can transform health services, with the NHS and social care. The pandemic shone a light on the fantastic opportunities to bring ideas and solutions from industry into our health and care services to make positive improvements and we now have the opportunity to build on this to develop stronger partnerships.

This award will recognise teams, organisations and health and care systems that have delivered innovative initiatives in collaboration with industry partners, with evidence of impact felt in health and care services.

To score highly with the judges we will be looking for applications that:

• Evidence of impact derived from collaborative approach.
• Demonstrate learning from working in partnership with industry.
• Demonstrate patient benefit or impact on services through collaboration.
• Evidence involvement of patients and the public in the effective collaboration.

Within your submission, please ensure you outline the following:

• Background to challenge.
• Details of the collaboration and joint working to deliver change.
• Evidence of involving patients, public and staff in the roll-out of the solution.
• Evidence of continuous learning.
• Details of collaboration and approach to joint working.
• Impact of the initiative and working together.

This award will recognise teams, organisations or ICSs that are driving forward positive change to enable safer systems of care.

To effect the change required to improve patient safety we need transformation and innovation, offering opportunities to provide safer care through pathway changes, new interventions or technology-enabled monitoring, among other examples. Enabling safer care for patients, and continually improving services has the potential to save almost 1000 extra lives and £100m in care costs for the NHS.

Entrants for this award will demonstrate improvements in patients safety as a result of innovation or change initiatives that are helping to deliver against NHS England’s national patient safety strategy.

To score highly with the judges we will be looking for applications that:

• Demonstrate the delivery of safer care through initiatives that reduce harm.
• A clear link to NHS England’s national patient safety priorities.
• Demonstrate impact on patient care and outcomes.

Within your submission, please ensure you outline the following:

• Background to the situation, the challenge and measures taken to address it.
• Impact to date and potential future impact.
• Involvement of patients and public in development of the solutions.
• Opportunities to spread the idea or initiative to other systems.

This award will recognise the organisations that are harnessing data to drive forward insight-led improvements to population health, patient care or clinical practice.

During the pandemic health and care made a step-change in its use of data to help in the fight against coronavirus. How we gather, use and harness data can now help to transform NHS services and improve population health.

The winner of this award will be a trailblazer in the use of data; using insights to deliver innovative approaches and support improvements.    

Judges in this category will be looking for:

• Evidence that data analysis has been a key enabler in the development and formation of innovative practices.
• Evidence of how data analysis has generated actionable insight to inform transformation.
• Examples of greater levels of impact derived from adopting a data-driven approach.
• Evidence that correct safeguards have been put in place to handle the data securely.
• Evidence that patient and practitioner support for the use of data in improving services has been obtained. 
• Links to NHS England’s ‘Data Saves Lives’ strategy.

In your response, ensure you include:

• Evidence regarding the impact your approach has delivered in terms of benefits to patients, staff or services.
• Evidence that due process has been followed in the handling of data including adoption of the ‘5 Safes’.

The winner of this award will be selected from all the winners across the 11 award categories.

This award will recognise those organisations making a significant contribution to the advancement of innovation in health and care. Judges will be looking at those teams, organisations, ICSs or partnerships helping to create a step-change in how the NHS identifies, adopts and spreads innovation.

The award will overall recognise entrants able to evidence clear patient and public involvement in innovation and transformation; demonstrable impact and opportunities and a commitment to spread their ideas more widely to the benefit of health and care.