NHS Parliamentary Awards are set to return this year

Following immense winter pressures, it’s never been more important to celebrate dedicated NHS staff.

Established in 2018 to celebrate the 20^th birthday of our national health system (NHS), the NHS Parliamentary Awards were created to show off the incredible work NHS staff and teams consistently do.

Comprised of 10 categories, staff and/or teams can be submitted to local MPs across the country where one will be chosen as the lucky winner.

The categories are as follows:

• The excellence in healthcare award
• The excellence in mental health care award
• The future NHS award
• The nursing and midwifery award
• The health equalities award
• The excellence in primary care and community care award
• The excellence in urgent and emergency care award
• The excellence in education and training award – new for 2024
• The volunteer award
• The lifetime achievement award

Now in its seventh year, the awards have continued to grow bigger and better. In 2023 750 nominations were submitted by over half of MPs representing constituencies in England.

This year, it is arguably more important to showcase the talents of the NHS. Whilst the sector is still trying to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, they have been hit with a spiralling cost-of-living crisis and faced severe pressures this winter. 

According to the latest findings from the British Medical Association, NHS wait lists did decrease in December 2023, but the number of patients still awaiting treatment is high. The waiting list fell to 7.60 million cases, consisting of 6.37 million individual patients waiting for treatment. Around 3.30 million of these patients have been waiting over 18 weeks.

In addition, the NHS have also been struggling with drastic understaffing. At the end of last year, there were 110,781 vacancies in secondary care in England – of these, 8,758 were medical, amounting to 5.7% of all medical posts.

Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, said: ‘On behalf of my NHS colleagues, I would encourage all MPs in England to nominate for the NHS Parliamentary Awards 2024 to celebrate the hard work and achievements of their local NHS staff.’

‘With the NHS providing an increasing and evolving range of treatments and services, there has never been a more important time for MPs to speak up for the incredible work of NHS staff in their constituencies,’ Stephen said. ‘I think I speak for everyone in the NHS when I say we really appreciate that ongoing support.’

Nominations for the awards opened on 29^th February and a due to close at midnight on Friday 19^th April 2024.

Image: Pablo Heimplatz

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