In the third of our weekly articles guiding you through the categories for the 2014 Building Better Healthcare Awards, we are providing an overview of the ever-popular People class.
Recognising the individuals and teams whose work helps to improve the patient experience and deliver innovative new products and services, there are two awards up for grabs for 2014.
New for 2014 is the Working Together Award , which reflects the importance of inter-departmental relationships and partnerships between suppliers and healthcare operators.
Entries should be able to demonstrate that a project has inspired and mobilised a team of people to devise and implement a change that has improved people care and working conditions.
A brief description of what was considered to be going wrong, what improvements could be made, how and why this was thought to be a problem, and a description of the improvements which were implemented, should be included in all entries. Examples of mutual team dependency at all levels of seniority, transparency and responsibility should also be described.
The judges are interested in finding teams of people comprising frontline staff, community services, NHS and local authority organisations who, together, can demonstrate that their efforts have made a measurable impact on the quality and safety of patient care.
The second award is The Client of the Year Award. This accolade enables industry representatives - manufacturers, architects, construction companies, service providers etc - to recognise an individual or organisation within the healthcare sector which, they feel, has demonstrated excellence. Entries should provide evidence of partnership working that has resulted in improvements to services and/or procedures.
Last year the winner of this category was NHS Property Services (Hull area) and Community Health Partnerships (Hull Citycare).
The organisations invested more than £100m in improvements to healthcare buildings, with 70% of Hull residents now accessing health and community services in welcoming, fit-for-purpose facilities. The work also created 1,200 jobs for local workers.
Choosing their winner last year, the judges said: “This team has clear and realistic objectives that seem to have been realised through a successful partnership and community involvement approach.”
Jo Makosinski, editor of Building Better Healthcare and organiser of the awards, said: “When completing entry forms, it is vital you explain clearly how the entry meets all the bulletpoints set out in the judging criteria, and that additional information enables the judges to picture the project in its entirety.
“It is important that the entry is completed by a senior member of the team as they are in the best position to describe the benefits and the thinking behind the project. In addition, entries need to be clearly written and succinct; dealing only with the details and impact of the project and how it will demonstrate improvements on what is currently available. This should be supported by genuine comments from patients and clinicians. If these guidelines are followed then the judges will have sufficient information on which to make an informed decision. If any of this information is lacking, then it could mean projects not getting through to the final stages of judging.”