University Hospital Southampton teams shortlisted for NHS Parliamentary Awards 2023

University Hospital Southampton (UHS) is excited to share that two of its teams have been shortlisted in the prestigious NHS Parliamentary Awards to mark the NHS’s 75th birthday.

The My Medical Record team from UHS Digital have been shortlisted for ‘The Future NHS Award’, along with other nominees from around the country.

The Future NHS Award is designed to acknowledge a person or team who have successfully trialled and embedded change to make better use of data and digital technology, provide more convenient access to services and information for patients and improve support for staff.

In another award category, the ‘Excellence in Healthcare Award’, we have also seen our prostate self-referral team shortlisted for their pioneering self-referral service. Their efforts have helped move the UK considerably closer to developing an early detection programme that could save thousands of lives.

Our teams were nominated by Alan Whitehead MP and Royston Smith MP respectively. Each of the 10 award categories features a shortlist of seven regional champions (nominees), who will all be invited to the national award ceremony in the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster, London on 5 July 2023 where the overall winners will be announced.

The NHS Parliamentary Awards launched in 2018 to celebrate the NHS’ 70 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 provide an excellent opportunity for health and care organisations to engage with their local MPs, tell them about the work they do, and build or strengthen ongoing relationships.

Reflecting on the nomination for the My Medical Record team, head of product delivery, Matthew Beedle said, “The team is passionate about implementing solutions that enable clinical colleagues to transform their services for the benefit of their patients. Being shortlisted for the Future NHS Award is reward for the great work the team do on a daily basis - it's fantastic for the team to be recognised in this way. I'm so proud and pleased for them and grateful for the input and contribution of our clinical staff over the years. I'm really delighted for the recognition we are all receiving through this nomination.”

Speaking on behalf of the prostate self-referral team, Edmund Chedgy, consultant urological surgeon and project co-lead, added, “It is fantastic to see our innovative project shortlisted for this award. During the pandemic we saw a dramatic drop in referrals for men with suspected prostate cancer and we feared may be missed or present at a later stage with a more advanced, incurable cancer. By developing this novel service, we have opened up access to try and facilitate earlier diagnosis and treatment. To date nearly one thousand men have already contacted the service and benefited from this early assessment.”