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Celebrating successful nominations in national healthcare awards

Posted: 24 August 2021

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West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (WHHT) is clearing space in its trophy cabinet in the hope of four wins in three prestigious national healthcare awards this year.

The trust is celebrating successful nominations as finalists in the BMJ Awards (British Medical Journal), the HSJ Awards (Health Service Journal) and the Nursing Times Workforce Summit and Awards.

WHHT’s respiratory team is shortlisted in the BMJ ‘Respiratory Team of the Year’ award. Nominated for their response to COVID-19, the team rapidly delivered a plan to reduce inpatient numbers during the pandemic to avoid being overwhelmed by the high demand for respiratory admissions.

The respiratory team achieved this by creating a virtual hospital to safely care for patients at home as well as creating a new integrated care pathway.

The HSJ Awards selected the trust’s orthopaedics trauma team as finalists in the ‘Driving Efficiency through Technology Award’ for their digital transformation project and redesign of the orthopaedic referral pathways.

Previously, the team would manage their cases via pagers, making notes and observations on paper or spreadsheets. The pathway was transformed by adopting an integrated Virtual Fracture Clinic (VFC) and bleep-free referral system.

The HSJ has also shortlisted the trust’s BAME Connect staff network in its 'Staff Engagement' category. The nomination recognised their work to reignite the network and help BAME staff feel protected and empowered, particularly during the pandemic.

The trust’s structured programme of clinical supervision for registered nurses is a top contender in the Nursing Times Workforce Summit and Awards in the ‘Best Wellbeing and Staff Engagement Initiative’. The programme promotes wellbeing and mental health safeguarding, while supporting safe practice and is a boost for recruitment and retention.

The successful nominations are testament to the hard work and dedication of staff as well as their embrace of innovative digital technologies to provide the safest care for patients while also transforming how care is delivered in the future.

Ends

  1. For more information, please contact the communications team on: 01923 436280 or email: < a href="mailto:westherts.communications@nhs.uk">westherts.communications@nhs.uk,/a>. Out of hours, please call the Watford General Hospital switchboard on 01923 244366 and ask for the on call communications manager.
  2. West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves people from across Hertfordshire, north London and further afield. It operates from three hospitals; Watford General, St Albans City and Hemel Hempstead. The trust has a catchment area of over 500,000 people and is one of the largest employers locally, with around 5,000 staff and volunteers.
  3. For more information about our hospitals, visit www.westhertshospitals.nhs.uk. You can also join our followers on Twitter (twitter.com/westhertsNHS) and find us on Facebook (facebook.com/westhertsNHS).