The Urgent Health UK awards celebrate excellence in urgent and integrated care. The awards form part of the annual UHUK conference, attended by leading healthcare professionals, policy makers, academics, and pioneers from across the UK.

This year’s theme was ‘Sustaining the NHS: Is virtual care the solution?’. As part of the conference, Caroline O’Keeffe, NHUC’s Medical Director was joined by David Cruttenden-Wood and Becky Housley, colleagues from Hampshire Hospital’s Foundation Trust. Together, they presented a case study demonstrating the success of the NHUC/HHFT virtual ward model, which had partnership and collaboration at its core, establishing the value of virtual wards and highlighting lessons learned for the ongoing development of virtual care.

Nominated in three award categories; Workforce, Technological Innovation and Patient Engagement, NHUC was delighted to win awards in each:

  • FAST Pathway, Mental Health Support to Staff – Silver Award (Workforce)
  • Clinical Guardian, Integration of EMIS – Bronze Award (Technological Innovation)
  • VirtualCare@Home & Hampshire Hospitals Foundation Trust, Patient Centred Care – Bronze Award (Patient Engagement)

Reflecting on the awards Caroline O’Keeffe said,

“I am really proud of the whole NHUC team at tonight’s UHUK Awards. Shortlisted in three categories, we are celebrating a silver and two bronze awards. This is a testament to hard work and dedication over a long period from a great team. We were delighted to be joined by colleagues from Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, our partners in our Virtual Ward service, showcasing collaboration at its finest.”

Congratulations to all the award winners and nominees and a huge thanks to the team at UHUK for delivering an excellent conference and awards event.

Left to right: Indy Libra (Clinical Lead GP NHUC), Felicity Greene (Chief Executive NHUC), Caroline O’Keeffe (Medical Director NHUC), David Cruttenden-Wood (Clinical Director for Virtual Healthcare HHFT), Becky Housley (Virtual Healthcare Nurse Consultant HHFT), Chris Stark (Director of Nursing & Quality NHUC) & Simon Abrams (Chair UHUK)