Kate Granger Compassionate Care Awards launched

4 May 2016 02:38 PM

The Kate Granger Compassionate Care Awards will again take centre stage at this year’s Health and Care Innovation Expo.

The awards, which are made to individuals, teams and organisations who demonstrate outstanding care for their patients, will be made on the first day of Expo 2016 being staged at Manchester Central on September 7 and 8.

Named after Kate Granger, the terminally ill doctor who has worked tirelessly to raise awareness around compassion in the NHS through her #hellomynameis social media campaign, the awards are now open to entrants, and nominations can be made throughout May and June, with the closing date being June 30.

Kate was delighted to learn the awards are to run for a third successive year, saying: “Celebrating and rewarding colleagues in the NHS, who work incredibly hard every day to provide outstanding care to their patients, has an extremely powerful effect.”

As she embarks on further palliative chemotherapy for a recent progression in her cancer Kate, who has previously described the awards as “Part of my legacy to the NHS of which I am very proud”, is hoping to see another leap in the number of entries from the 97 that poured in last year.

“It would be fantastic for the awards to grow even bigger,” she added.

This year sees three prizes up for grabs. The first award is for an individual working in the NHS or delivering NHS funded services. The other two are for teams or organisations who are part of the NHS, or who deliver NHS funded services. These services can be delivered in hospitals, or in a primary care, community or residential setting.

The judges are looking for an individual, team or organisation that has made a fantastic difference to patient care. In particular, they want evidence of:

It was while undergoing treatment for cancer that Kate Granger started writing about seeing the NHS “through the eyes of a patient”. She launched #hellomynameiscampaign to talk about some of her intensely moving experiences.

The campaign reminds health care professionals of the importance of introducing themselves to patients and how a relatively ‘little thing’ can positively affect a patient’s experience of the treatment and care they receive. It is now backed by more than 100 health trusts.