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Double success at HSJ Value Awards

Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) is celebrating a double dose of success after scooping two national awards at the HSJ Value Awards 2021.The diabetes data dashboard, a partnership involving Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (OCCG), Oxford Health, and South Central and West Commissioning Support Unit (SCWCSU), won the Diabetes Care Initiative of the Year, while the Oxford Integrated Cardiology Service was successful in the Cardiovascular Care Initiative of the Year category.The Trust’s innovative day case hip replacement service, based at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford, was also shortlisted for the Post-COVID Sustainable Transformation Award.

The first OUH award to be announced at the in-person event in Manchester (Thursday 2 September) was for the Oxford Integrated Cardiology Service.

Recognised for improving cardiology care in the community, the project recruited and trained a team of 12 GPs to deliver cardiology outpatient appointments for most patients referred from 32 GP practices in Oxfordshire.

The service, fully integrated with cardiac services onsite at OUH, is delivered at community locations across the county and sees about 3,000 new patients per year.

Alex Pitcher, Consultant Cardiologist and the Clinical Lead for Integrated Community Cardiology, said: “We are delighted that the sustained effort and teamwork required to develop a completely new type of service has been recognised at national level. The service has brought primary and secondary care together in a way that hasn’t been tried before on this scale.

“This approach worked particularly well during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the service was able to operate in every single week of the crisis, often at full capacity, owing to its community location and the dynamic capability of the team.

“The gratifying feedback we get from patients reassures us that they appreciate the holistic and thoughtful care they get from our GP-Cardiologists.”

Meanwhile, the diabetes data dashboard was celebrated for improving the level of care for people in Oxfordshire with diabetes.

Together, the team of senior clinicians and managers from OUH, OCCG, Oxford Health, and SCWCSU developed the dashboard, which presents information every month about diabetes care and health outcomes. It presents data at county, Primary Care Network (PCN) and GP practice level, providing regular insight into the county’s diabetes population health and a forum for sharing best practice.

The implementation of the dashboard and multi-disciplinary working has played a significant role in improving the care of people with diabetes within Oxfordshire. There is further information on the positive impact of the dashboard in this web article.

Garry Tan, Clinical Lead for Diabetes at OUH, said: “This national recognition of the approach which has led to sustained improvements in the outcomes for people living with diabetes reflects the teamworking and hard work by the whole diabetes community in Oxfordshire over several years.”

Rustam Rea, Consultant Diabetologist at the Trust, added: “We are pleased to see that this innovation is being adopted in other parts of the country and hope that, as a result, there will be significant improvement in diabetes care across the country.”

Tony O’Malley, a patient who was able to attend the awards, said: “It was a real privilege to be a member of the team that initiated, developed, and implemented this exciting project.

“As an Oxfordshire patient representative on the project, I found the team to be very open and welcoming, but most importantly they were all completely authentic and genuinely interested in the patient’s viewpoint.”

The full list of winners can be found on the HSJ Value Awards website. The awards are taking a break for 2022 but are due to return in 2023.

The HSJ said on its website: “The judges were blown away by the quality of entries especially during what has been one of the hardest and most challenging years to work in the health and care sector.

“Well done to all the 149 finalists, who have all proven exceptional value and efficiency across their organisation when it needed it most.”

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