Celebrating innovation, compassion and impact: winners of the RCP Excellence in Patient Care Awards revealed

Professor Mumtaz Patel, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said:  

‘These awards highlight the extraordinary ways in which our fellows and members are improving the lives of patients every day.  

‘From doctors on hospital wards to academic researchers in our universities, the stories at this year’s awards have been truly inspiring – shining a spotlight on the very best of the NHS . 

‘I would like to thank everyone who submitted such high-calibre nominations, as well as the judges, who had the incredibly difficult task of picking this year’s worthy winners, and our generous sponsors. There’s brilliant practice happening in all corners of the health service and it’s a privilege to share our members’ stories and improvements for patients.’ 

The winners of the Excellence in Patient Care Awards 2025 are: 

The Alliance Medical Health inequalities – working towards inclusive care for all award 

• Winner: #MoreThanAHospital – Midland Metropolitan University Hospital
• Organisation: Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust 
• Team members: Dr Sarb Clare MBE, Rachel Barlow SRO, Liam Kennedy, Marsha Jones, MMUH Company  

Statement: The new acute hospital Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH) hashtag is #morethanahospital. MMUH is a catalyst for improved health outcomes via regeneration, increased employment, education, and local opportunity. 

The team at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust said they were ‘honoured to receive recognition for [our] approach to creating a community for local residents, and leading to opportunities for work and training.’ They added that sharing their work through these awards will ‘help with the design of new hospital builds’ and ensure that ‘investment is considered an opportunity for healthcare improvement.’    

The Lean enabled service improvement award 

• Winner: National Implementation of Optical Diagnosis in the English Bowel Cancer Screening Programme
• Organisation: DISCARD3 (St Mark's Hospital) and NHSE Optical Diagnosis Implementation teams
• Team members: Ahmir Ahmad, Brian Saunders, Stephen Hearing and Lee Adams representing the teams  

Statement: The DISCARD3 study showed that optical diagnosis with a “resect and discard” strategy is a greener, leaner, more efficient and cost-effective way to perform colonoscopy and is both safe and acceptable for patients and clinicians. The findings have now been adopted nationally in the English Bowel Cancer Screening Programme (BCSP). 

Members of the DISCARD3 (St Mark's Hospital) and NHSE Optical Diagnosis Implementation teams said receiving the award was ‘a huge boost’ and provided ‘renewed vigour to transform the bowel screen process.’

Sustainability – reducing the environmental impact of healthcare award

• Winner: Pen switch - An initiative promoting sustainable insulin prescribing by switching to reusable pens in Devon.
• Organisation: University Hospital Plymouth NHS Foundation Trust and Amicus Health (Tiverton)
• Team members: Dr Vincent Simpson and Dr Deepthi Lavu  

Statement: Disposable insulin pens generate 60 tonnes of plastic waste and CO2eq equivalent to ~2.5 million car miles annually in England. Using reusable reduces 89% plastic waste. 40% carbon footprint and 1–5. 

Members of the University of Hospital Plymouth NHS Foundation Trust & Amicus Health (Tiverton) team said it was an ‘honour to be selected as a finalist’ which served ‘as an opportunity to spread the message and get the conversation going nationally’. 

They added that by sharing their work through these awards, they were raising awareness of environmental impact and demonstrating that ‘good diabetes care can be provided in a sustainable way.’ 

The Medical Protection Society award for patient safety  

• Winner: Opt-out HIV testing in Croydon Emergency Department – Saving lives, reducing healthcare inequalities and tackling stigma 
• Organisation: Croydon University Hospital 
• Team members: Dr Ian Cormack, Dr Sarah Horne, Dr Wendy Armstrong, Andrew Widdowson, Dr Leslie Perry, Consultant Scientist, Carl DeSouza, Advanced Nurse Practitioner  

Statement: Since 2005 we have been collecting data prospectively on all HIV inpatient and outpatient activity in Croydon to better understand how to address the problem of late diagnoses of HIV adversely affecting our population causing severe inequalities in healthcare outcomes. Our program has dramatically improved patient safety and reduced inequality.  

The Alliance Medical education – improving patient focus  

• Winner: DigiBete: Implementing a Self-Management Education Solution for Children and Young People’s Diabetes at Scale. 
• Organisation: DigiBete CIC & NHS England Diabetes team 
• Team members: Professor Partha Kar, Dr Fiona Campbell, Frances Hanson RD, Caroline Muller PDSN, Dr Nivedita Aswani, Dr Fulya Mehta, Maddie Julian MA, PGCE, Rob Julian BSc (Hons), Salma Mehar RD, Hilary Nathan  

Statement: DigiBete is a nationally commissioned, patient-led, clinically approved app offering digital self-management education for families managing type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Supporting 95% of NHS paediatric diabetes clinics, the clinic portal also enables over 2,000 healthcare professionals to connect with 35,000 patients, filling a critical gap in out-of-hours care.  

Members of the DigiBete CIC & NHS England Diabetes team said they were ‘delighted to receive recognition of hard work and commitment’ and that the ambition now is to ‘extend the scope of project, moving from paediatric to all types of diabetes.’ 

The Medical Practice Management award for developing Workforce  

• Winner: A multi-year project enhancing resident doctor experience and productivity within a DGH medical department. 
• Organisation: The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust 
• Team members: Dr Matthew Roycroft (Project Lead), Division of Medicine Senior Leadership Team (especially Paul Stewart, Dr Jeremy Reynard and Nicola Colley), Medical Workforce Team (especially Karen Backhouse, Anisa Ali, Joanne Freeman and Abigail Fairhurst), Division of Medicine Service Managers and Finance Team (especially Kerry Gedney and Alison Beard). 

Statement: Since 2005 we have been collecting data prospectively on all HIV inpatient and outpatient activity in Croydon to better understand how to address the problem of late diagnoses of HIV adversely affecting our population causing severe inequalities in healthcare outcomes. Our program has dramatically improved patient safety and reduced inequality.

Paul Stewart said: ‘[For the team, winning this award] is validation. There’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes at the NHS. I think the true collaboration in this project has been absolutely brilliant across all the teams.'

The Harold Thimbleby award for digital transformation  

• Winner: Pioneering cardiac digital care through virtual wards 
• Organisation: Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• Team members: Sadia Khan, Jasjit Syan, Grant McQueen, James Bird, Sarah Pearse, Jodian Barrett, Mike Wright, Keenan Saleh, Rahim Kanji, Cindy Supan, Nawale Janati, Jose Padernal, Dianne Dela Cruz, Jonathon Valabhji, Emma Barron, Hussein Al Hakem, Morana Johnston, Angela Murphy, Gary Davies, Roger Chinn  

Statement: An ageing community, living with chronic diseases challenges the abilities of traditional care models to provide high quality care. This project showcases how the use of digital technologies, integrated into care pathways and with a focus on all user inclusion have enabled us to improve outcomes and use of resources.  

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust team members said the award ‘represents a huge amount of work with patients, staff and other trusts.’ 

The Eric Watts award for patient engagement  

• Winner: Patient-driven co-development of the Wales Lung Health Check Operational Pilot to optimise equitable participation 
• Organisation: Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board 
• Team members: Dr Sinan Eccles, Chris Coslett, Claire Wright, Amy Grace McCutchan, Professor Kate Brain, Dr Samantha Quaife, Dafydd Snelling, Heather Ramessur-Marsden  

Statement: Low-dose CT screening for lung cancer saves lives and has been recommended for implementation in the UK, but participation is often low. We co-developed materials with patient and public involvement to overcome barriers to equitable participation in the Lung Health Check Operational Pilot for Wales  

Dr Sinan Eccles said: ‘It’s brilliant to be recognised for the work that’s been done. But one of the the reasons for doing this pilot is to try and get this lung cancer screening rolled out in Wales and we’re moving towards that at the moment. So recognition from the RCP is really important on that journey.’ 

Research – expanding medical knowledge while improving patient care award

• Winner: Embedding research into a clinical service to improve outcomes in children with inherited cardiac conditions 
• Organisation: Great Ormond Street Hospital and University College London 
• Team members: Prof Juan Pablo Kaski, Dr Elena Cervi, Dr Luke Starling, Dr Gabrielle Norrish, Ms Ella Field, Ms Jennifer Tollit, Ms Annabelle Barnes, Ms Helen Walsh, Mrs Emma Lord, Mrs Nichola French, Ms Sorcha Smyth. Ms Annabel Crompton, Mrs Elisha Thompson  

Statement: Inherited cardiac conditions (ICC) affect young individuals and are associated with lifelong morbidity and mortality, including sudden death. Despite genetic testing advances, clinical management in children has remained largely unchanged for decades. We aimed to improve outcomes in children with ICC by embedding research into our clinical service.  

Chief Registrar Project of the Year  

• Winner: Equality at work establishing a novel international medical graduate training academy for Gloucester Hospitals 
• Organisation: Gloucestershire Royals Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 
• Team members: Dr Mark Jordan and Dr David Baker  

Dr David Baker said: ‘It’s amazing to be recognised for the work that us and the team put in. There’s a lot of work behind the scenes that is not instantly recognisable from the outside, but putting it all together through the chief registrar programme, just helped us structure everything in a way we could share with everybody.’ 

Dr Mark Jordan added: “It’s about sharing the work as far as possible and trying to inspire other people to start to adopt some of the projects in their trusts, so it’s not just at a local level that. We can start doing things at a national level, and really push progression and development – certainly for the IMG and locally employed doctor perspective.’