Cambridge University Hospitals take two top honours at EHI Awards

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust scooped two of the top prizes at the 2017 EHI Awards.

The global digital exemplar was named Trust of the Year and its chief clinical information officer Afzal Chaudry CCIO of the Year at the awards, which celebrate excellence in UK healthcare IT.

Cambridge University Hospitals implemented Epic’s EPR back in 2014, and currently remains the only trust in the country to be live with the US supplier’s system.

The implementation was notoriously not without its challenges – it was seen to have contributed to major financial difficulties at the organisation, and a period of special measures – but, as Digital Health News reported earlier in the year, staff now report significant benefits from the system.

Cambridge did not receive the inaugural award for global digital exemplar of the year, however. That honour went to The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Darren McKenna of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation was named CIO of the Year.

Other winners at the awards, which are organised by Informa Life Sciences Exhibitions and which were for the first time co-located with EHI Live, included myCareCentric Epilepsy. An integrated care solution, it aims to improve treatment and quality of life for those with epilepsy by combining wearables, shared care records, machine learning and data analysis.

The Best App for Clinicians award went to Morse, which allows community clinicians to edit existing data offline and then sync it back to the main system once they have a secure internet connection.

The judging panel for the awards was led by Professor Jonathan Wallace of Ulster University and included Anne Cooper and Rob Shaw from NHS Digital; Dr Harpreet Sood from NHS England; Ben Moody from techUK; and Dr Mark Simpson, CCIO of Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.

Full list of winners

• Best app for clinicians: Morse – Data on the Move; NHS Western Isles & Cambric Systems
• Best app for patients and carers: myCareCentric Epilepsy Solution; Epilepsy Care Alliance
• Best system or initiative adoption/rollout: Right First Time at Point of Care; Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Best nursing technology: Opening the GATE (Generic Assessment Tool and Evaluation) for Collaborative Working; Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group, Liverpool City Council and Informatics Merseyside
• Best mental health initiative: Technology Integrated Healthcare Management; Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
• Best global digital exemplar: The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust
• Trust of the year: Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Healthcare industry leader – people’s choice: Kim Ryan, staff midwife, National Maternity Hospital
• CIO of the Year: Darren McKenna, Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust
• CCIO of the Year: Dr Afzal Chaudhry, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust