Tim Kelsey, NHS England’s National Director for Patients and Information, explains how NHS England is celebrating patient and public participation across health and care.

The NHS England Excellence in Participation Awards are a great way for us to celebrate the fantastic work that goes on in the NHS and the wider health and care sector.

We already know that there are teams and individuals doing some great work that really puts patients, service users, families, carers, volunteers and members of the public at the heart of designing and improving health and care services for the future.

We need to harness that learning, share it with other colleagues, organisations and volunteers to ensure the best of what we do is replicated wherever it can be, and recognise the very real  achievements that can be made when organisations and communities truly work together.

The awards are designed to draw out those examples, recognise their value and celebrate the people who have worked together to make improvements or design services that really reflect the view of patients, service users, carers and families and their experiences of health and care.

There are a range of awards including a Participant of the Year Award, a Children and Young People’s Award for Excellence and awards for both providers and commissioners for excellence in both public and individual participation.

People can nominate themselves, another team or another individual. Members of the public can nominate for all awards and likewise health and care related organisations can nominate colleagues, teams, themselves, patients, service users, volunteers, carers or members of the public.

The awards fall into four categories: Excellence in Public Participation, Individual Participation, Insight and Feedback and the People’s Awards.

The closing date is 9am on Monday 20 January 2014, so visit the awards webpage and make your nomination and I hope to see you at the awards ceremony on March 3 at the 2014 Health and Care Innovation EXPO in Manchester.