Partnership digital project highly commended in prestigious UK National GO Awards

Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust was recently recognised in the prestigious UK National GO Awards 2019, which were held to celebrate innovations, initiatives and advancements whilst improving patient experience.

Lancashire Care came Highly Commended in the ‘Procurement Project of the Year’ category for working collaboratively with local NHS and public sector partners - including Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria team members in the digital health team - to improve the Health and Social Care Network (HSCN) across the Lancashire and South Cumbria integrated care system. The HSCN is a new data network that allows health and care organisations to access and exchange electronic information, helping clinicians to deliver more timely care and a better patient experience.

Pictured are (left to right): Gus Hartley, Special Projects at North West SIS; Clare Cassidy, Technical Architect, providing the technical innovation behind the project; Stephen McGarry, Head of Procurement and Commercial Finance at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust; Andrew Thompson, Head - North West Shared Infrastructure Service and Operational Digital Lead – Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System.

Working collaboratively to improve our infrastructure

The project has not only created considerable savings for the NHS, but has also included Lancashire Fire and Rescue (LFR), connecting nearly 400 sites across Lancashire and South Cumbria with improved network performance, speed and security. The new network underpins the healthcare systems that doctors and nurses use, and will deliver important improvements in performance as well as securing against future malware and cyber-attacks.

Stephen McGarry, Head of Procurement and Commercial Finance at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“To be Highly Commended in such a competitive category, with such august company, is a major achievement and recognises the very special efforts and hard work of many individuals who came together to help create this rewarding outcome.”

The winners were announced at an awards ceremony held on 30 April 2019 at the Hilton Metropole in Birmingham where judges described the Lancashire Care project as “a very successful procurement with tangible cashable savings and service benefits, delivered in an innovative approach.”

The awards reward those individuals, teams and organisations that have gone above and beyond normal standards in public procurement to make real differences to the quality of public services across the UK. This year’s UK National GO Awards was Hosted by TV presenter Sarah Heaney.

For more information please visit the UK National GO Awards website. 

Our Digital Future

Find out more about plans for digital health across Lancashire and South Cumbria in the Our Digital Future section of the website.