We need the best of the NHS to meet the challenges ahead – including this winter
4 min read
After wrapping up another memorable NHS Parliamentary Awards, I want to thank all parliamentarians, past and present, who have shown their support over the last few months.
It was truly heartening to see so many new MPs attend who were not an elected member during this year’s nomination process. For those who didn’t get a chance to nominate this year, there will certainly be an opportunity to do so in the 2025 edition of the awards.
Every year, we are reminded of why these awards are so essential, and this year was no exception. Despite the pressures they are under, NHS staff across the country continue to work tirelessly for patients and find innovative ways to improve services. For example, the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust and King George hospital, Ilford – winners of this year’s Excellence in Urgent and Emergency Care Award – have worked together through a pioneering patient handover agreement to bring down the average handover time in the nation’s capital from 50 minutes to 23 minutes in the course of a single year.
Such improvements will be essential as we head towards another challenging winter. To strengthen our readiness and avoid a potential ‘tripledemic’ of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), Covid and flu viruses, we are, for the first time ever, offering the RSV vaccine to pregnant women and older adults at greatest risk. The NHS is calling on eligible groups to get vaccinated against RSV, as well as Covid and flu, to ensure they are protected while also helping to ease pressures across the NHS.
To learn more about what other steps we are taking to support your constituents this winter, please join us at our winter drop-in event in Room R, Portcullis House between 3.30pm and 5pm on Wednesday 20 November.
Another team delivering improvements in emergency care performance, recognised in this year’s NHS Parliamentary Awards in the Excellence in Primary and Community Care category, is the Bradford District Care Trust’s Proactive Care Team. They have helped reduce A&E attendances by 41 per cent in underserved cohorts of patients by adopting a co-ordinated, proactive approach to community healthcare.
These teams exemplify the best of the NHS – engaging with underserved groups, bringing care into the community, and helping keep patients out of hospital.
We can also see the best of the NHS in Rose Amankwaah, joint winner of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Rose has 49 years of experience as a nurse at Central Middlesex hospital and, prior to this, was dubbed the “fastest woman in Africa” due to her success in international sprinting contests. Rose shared the award with Garry Swann, a nurse consultant and clinical director who has worked in the NHS for 42 years and was a pioneer in the introduction of advanced clinical practitioners to the NHS, a highly qualified position which now performs a vital role in healthcare settings across the country.
In all their years of experience, Rose and Garry will have witnessed the NHS undergo seismic changes. We are entering another such period of reform and progress. We know that services haven’t functioned as well as they should for patients, and we know that staff have had to bear a significant burden. That’s why we have welcomed Lord Darzi’s report on the state of the NHS and are fully committed to working with the government to create a 10-year plan for healthcare to ensure the NHS recovers from Covid, strengthens its foundations and continues to reform so it is fit for future generations.
I can assure you that everyone at NHS England – indeed, everyone working in the health service – is committed to working with you as parliamentarians, the government and with patients and the wider public, to tackle the challenges facing the service, to improve performance and productivity, and to build an NHS fit for the 21st century: an NHS that thrives in the community, prevents disease as well as treats it, and embraces the digital era. We look forward to working with you and colleagues on this over the coming months and years.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis is NHS England national medical director and chair of the NHS Parliamentary Awards 2024 national judging panel
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