An NHS nurse from East Lancashire and a perinatal mental health service that works across Lancashire and South Cumbria have both scooped national prizes at this year’s prestigious NHS Parliamentary Awards held in London on Wednesday 5 July – the NHS’ 75th birthday.

The annual awards, now in their fifth year, recognise the hard work and commitment of individuals and teams working across the health and care sector in local communities.

Vicki Steveson-Hornby, Pancreas Specialist Nurse at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, is one of two North West winners at the awards, having won the Nursing and Midwifery Award, which was presented by Dame Ruth May, Chief Nursing Officer.

Nominated by MPs Jake Berry (Rossendale and Darwen), Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley), Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) and Antony Higginbotham (Burnley), Vicki won the award for working tirelessly with the sole aim of making changes to the referral process for any patient with a suspected pancreatic malignancy.

Vicki was recognised for playing an integral role in improving the diagnostic pathway for patients receiving a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. She has driven the need for diagnostics to be quicker while also ensuring patients and families are supported throughout the diagnostic process, from the point of referral for suspected cancer rather than the point of a confirmed diagnosis of cancer. Her work has helped drive a reduction in the time from referral to confirmed diagnosis from an average of 42 days to 22 days.

Commenting on her win, Vicki said: “I am absolutely delighted! I was thrilled to have even been shortlisted – this gives a huge profile and platform to pancreatic cancer which is so desperately needed. To actually go on to win against so many amazing nominees, I am absolutely delighted.”

The Lancashire and South Cumbria Reproductive Trauma Service (Perinatal Mental Health), run by Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board, won the Excellence in Mental Health Award which was presented by Lloyds Banking Group (sponsor) and Sean Duggan, NHS Confederation.

Nominated by MPs Antony Higginbotham (Burnley) and Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys), the service provides a pioneering integrated approach working across maternity and mental health.

Established by Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board in March 2022 and operated by Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the service works with six hospital trusts, service users and partners. It offers assessment and intervention for women with severe or complex mental health, providing integrated psychological therapy, peer support and midwifery for those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following birth trauma, fear of childbirth or perinatal loss.

Service manager Tracy Marsden said: “We are absolutely thrilled to win this award. We have worked tremendously hard to ensure the needs of every single person coming through our service have been met, their stories heard and acknowledged while they receive the most appropriate package of care from our dedicated team.”

Tracy added: “We believe we make an outstanding contribution to perinatal mental health across Lancashire and South Cumbria due to the integrated and innovative approach to working across maternity and mental health.

“So, on behalf of myself and the team I would like to say a huge thank you to Paul Maynard MP for nominating us and to the NHS Parliamentary Awards for recognising the contributions we are making on a daily basis to support women’s mental health through pregnancy.”

Regional Director for NHS England North West, Richard Barker, said: “It’s great to see the outstanding contributions from NHS staff and volunteers in the North West are being recognised at this year’s NHS Parliamentary Awards.

“In the past year, we’ve seen incredible work to recover from the pandemic including reducing the backlog of NHS care, and continuing to deliver the biggest and most successful vaccination programme in our history – which have been recognised in these nominations.

“As we mark the 75th year of the NHS, it’s an even more significant time to thank and congratulate our incredible workforce who are continuously striving to provide the best care to our patients. Well done to our regional champions.”

Chair of the National Judging panel and Chief Nursing Officer for England, Dame Ruth May said: “I would like to offer my huge congratulations to the brilliant staff who have won awards this year. As we mark the NHS’s 75th birthday, it is important to recognise our 1.4 million staff who are responsible for ensuring patients are given the latest innovate treatments.”

The NHS Parliamentary Awards was launched in 2018 to celebrate the NHS’ 70th birthday and recognise the outstanding contribution of staff, volunteers and others working in the health and care sector. Now in its sixth year, the awards have been an overwhelming success with more than 700 nominations being submitted by over half of MPs representing constituencies in England last year alone.

In the North West, more than 150 individuals and teams working across the region were nominated in 10 categories by more than 50 MPs for going above and beyond to provide innovative and compassionate care to patients.

A panel of senior executives selected regional champions for their dedication to the health service and to the people they care for in their communities.