Two NHS teams working across Cheshire and Merseyside have scooped national prizes, at this years’ NHS Parliamentary Awards.

The Surgical Cancer Hub Team at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust are the 2022 winner of the Excellence in Healthcare award, which was presented by Daisy Cooper MP.

Established during the pandemic, the surgical cancer hub provided a co-ordinated response to the delivery of essential and urgent cancer surgery, and became the regional facility for bowel, skin and urology cancer surgery, ensuring that patients who were prioritised for treatment could receive their care safely in a COVID secure environment and in a timely manner to maximise their outcomes. Throughout the pandemic, St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust was the only Trust in Cheshire and Merseyside to have consistently achieved the 62-day cancer standards against national and regional targets.

Nominated by MPs Sir George Howarth, Marie Rimmer and Conor McGinn, the team continues the hard work, and the ability to diagnose and treat on one COVID secure site, has enabled the team to go on to develop a Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) that not only streamlines pathways, but also ensures excellent patient experience is at the forefront of the service.

Pat Gillis, Cancer Services Manager at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said: “The last two years have been extremely tough for everyone across the NHS, but as a team we’ve been determined to make sure that any patient requiring urgent cancer diagnosis and treatment continued to be seen in the safest and quickest way possible in order to not delay their care and optimise their outcome.

“I am extremely proud of the way the whole team have risen to every challenge and been able to maintain excellent standards of care to our patients in such difficult circumstances.”

The Crisis Triage Car team, which is a joint partnership between Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, North West Ambulance NHS Trust, Merseyside Police and the British Transport Police have won the national award for Excellence in Urgent and Emergency Care, which was presented by Sir Steve Powis.

The Crisis Triage Car team was founded by mapping how each organisation could help each other’s responses to mental health crises in Liverpool, and then working in partnership along with a mental health professional who responds to service user’s issues to provide assessment, treatment, and pathway support at the initial point of crisis. The triage car is a reactive, proactive and preventative resource which has supported more than 2,300 people in crisis at incidents across Merseyside and has prevented more than 530 Section 136 Mental Health Act detentions.

Nominated by Dan Carden MP, the triage car has a dedicated 24/7 telephone number which is operated by a clinical lead, where assessments are provided within 72 hours. The opening of clinical decision units supports the needs of servicer users, Mental Health Act assessments, as well as providing all emergency services access to real time information, as well as the triage car.

Donna Robinson, Chief Operating Officer at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust said: “The success of the mental health triage cars is linked to the collaborative approach between Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, British Transport Police, North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust and Merseyside Police. We built on early successes and adapted the service in response to growing numbers of referrals during the pandemic.

“We’re delighted to win this award and believe it is a worthy recognition for the work undertaken by our staff in unprecedented times.”

Both winning teams, having beat many other nominations regionally, have gone on to win against champions from the six other NHS regions.

Dr Michael Gregory, Medical Director at NHS England – North West said: “A huge congratulations to both teams who won the national awards at this year’s NHS Parliamentary Awards. They are such deserving winners, who exhibit the very best of the NHS. Their outstanding contribution is making a genuine difference to our patients.

“These are teams who have gone above and beyond to provide the best care to our patients, especially over what has been a very challenging couple of years.”

Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive of the NHS, said: “The NHS is nothing without the people who work in and alongside it, and the NHS Parliamentary awards today were a brilliant opportunity to recognise the outstanding contribution they make across the country.

“This is an immense achievement, and as we continue to deliver the biggest and most ambitious catch-up plan in NHS history and address the Covid-19 backlogs, our staff will continue to be at the heart of what we do, each and every day.”

St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust’s cancer services team

Crisis triage car team