Best Contribution to the Improvement of Urgent and Emergency Care

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Best Contribution to the Improvement of Urgent and Emergency Care
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Urgent and emergency care is under sustained pressure. Delays in ambulance response, long waits in emergency departments and bottlenecks across acute care are affecting outcomes and stretching frontline capacity. The 10 Year Health Plan sets out a national ambition to restore performance through better coordination, earlier interventions and more responsive services at every stage of the pathway. 

This category highlights work that has helped the NHS manage real-time demand, improve flow and reduce avoidable admissions. Partnerships may involve operational support in hospitals, enhanced triage or streaming, clinical input in high-demand settings, or models that support faster, safer handovers and discharges. 

Entries should demonstrate how the partnership between private and NHS ogranisations have contributed to relieving system pressure, improving speed and safety of care, and supporting NHS teams to manage complexity with greater confidence and control.

Eligibility

  • This award is open to any private sector or independent healthcare provider that has worked in partnership with the NHS to improve urgent and emergency care services.
  • Projects must demonstrate significant improvements in response times, patient outcomes, or service delivery with evidence within the last two years up to the awards submission deadline.

Ambition

The challenge and context within which your project, person or organisation is set alongside your goals and targets whether quantitative or qualitative, and how this aligns with national priorities.

  • Describe the urgent and emergency care challenge the partnership addressed and how it aligns with national ambitions to restore performance.
  • Set out the goals agreed, whether on response times, flow or patient outcomes.
  • Explain why the partnership approach was the right one.

Collaboration

The stakeholders’ involvement in co-designing and delivering the project. How have patients, staff at all levels, communities and other parties worked together to realise the outcomes?

  • Describe how the private partner and NHS teams worked together across the pathway.
  • Explain how clinical and operational staff shaped the approach.
  • Provide evidence of how patients or end users informed the work.

Impact

The measurable benefits delivered to patients, staff, your organisation or the wider system. Provide data and evidence showing improvements to outcomes, quality, access, equity or efficiency. • 

  • Provide measurable evidence of improved response times, flow or reduced avoidable admissions.
  • Share before-and-after data and testimonial evidence from NHS staff and patients.
  • Demonstrate value for money and improved system control.

Scale

How your work has been shared, adopted or replicated beyond your immediate team or organisation. This includes dissemination through publications, presentations, toolkits, partnerships or inspiring similar initiatives elsewhere.

  • Explain how the approach has been adopted or adapted in other settings.
  • Describe how learning has been shared across the NHS.

Sustainability

The potential for the project/work to continue and create lasting impact. Evidence of how it can be sustained or built upon.

  • Describe how improvements are sustained as demand fluctuates.
  • Explain how the partnership supports lasting resilience in urgent and emergency care.

To find out more

Partnership opportunities:  Sponsorship Sales Team
Awards entry enquiries: Support Team
Judging and event management: Awards Support