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Kate Granger Award entries hit new high

A last minute flood of entries means competition for this year’s Kate Granger Compassionate Care Awards will be tougher than ever.

The 2016 awards have a total of 108 nominations – up on the 97 we received in 2015.

As the deadline approached yesterday, we had 67 entries. But we were hit with a last gasp rush for individuals, teams and organisations to stake their claims.

Jane Dwelly, NHS England’s Head of Health and Care Innovation, was delighted at the response, saying: “I am so pleased to be able to host these awards at Expo for the third year. The record breaking number of entries shows how important compassionate care is to everyone working with patients.”

The awards will be presented at the Health and Care Innovation Expo 2016 at Manchester Central on September 7.

They are named after Kate Granger, the terminally ill doctor who has worked tirelessly to raise awareness around compassion in the NHS through her #hellomynameis social media campaign.

Kate has expressed delight at the awards running for a third successive year, saying: “Celebrating and rewarding colleagues in the NHS, who work incredibly hard every day to provide outstanding care to their patients, has an extremely powerful effect.”

News of this year’s bumper crop of entries will come as a huge boost to Kate who, before embarking on further palliative treatment, had said she was hoping to see another leap in the number of entries from the 97 that poured in last year.

“It would be fantastic for the awards to grow even bigger,” she said.

“Being a patient has taught me a huge amount about being a doctor. Prioritising compassionate care in its rightful place alongside patient safety, under the umbrella of quality is perhaps one of the most important things I have learned.”

The first award is for an individual working in the NHS or delivering NHS funded services. The others are for teams or organisations who are part of the NHS, or who deliver NHS funded services. These services can be delivered in hospitals, or in a primary care, community or residential setting.

The judges are looking for an individual, team or organisation that has made a fantastic difference to patient care. In particular, they want evidence of:

  • an ambitious and innovative way of delivering care
  • high-quality management and leadership
  • an approach that can be easily measured and have a real impact
  • how the approach has made a difference to patient care
  • how it makes a difference in the long term
  • how easily it can be replicated in other organisations.

It was while undergoing treatment for cancer that Kate started writing about seeing the NHS “through the eyes of a patient”. She launched #hellomynameis campaign to talk about some of her intensely moving experiences.

The campaign reminds health care professionals of the importance of introducing themselves to patients and how a relatively ‘little thing’ can positively affect a patient’s experience of the treatment and care they receive. It is now backed by more than 100 health trusts.