Sheffield Children’s named regional champion for NHS Parliamentary Award for tackling health inequalities

Providing meals for parents spending the night in hospital with poorly children and giving bus passes to parents who can’t afford to get their child to hospital appointments are just two of the schemes that have earned Sheffield Children’s a regional award.

The NHS in the North East and Yorkshire has named Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust as regional champions for the prestigious NHS Parliamentary Awards to mark the NHS’s 75th birthday next month.

The trust is one of ten regional winners, chosen from over 100 nominations – taking the Excellence in Healthcare Award for tackling health inequalities. They now go through to the national awards.

Health inequalities are unfair and avoidable differences in health across the population, and between different groups within society. These include how long people are likely to live, the health conditions they may experience and the care that is available to them. The conditions in which we are born, grow, live, work and age can impact our health and wellbeing. Sheffield Children’s has made a firm commitment to investing in and sustaining work to reduce health inequalities, and this award recognises the most recent work towards this.

The NHS Parliamentary Awards, launched in March, called on MPs to find and nominate those individuals or teams they thought have made the biggest improvements to health and care services in their constituencies across 10 categories. Following an extensive judging panel process, the judges have selected the 10 regional winners in each of the 10 categories.

Sheffield Children’s has taken a proactive approach to reducing health inequalities through a range approaches which focus on making sure our children, young people and their families get the care and support they need. The work covers support for families with children staying overnight, helping children get to their outpatient appointments, community focused events and continuous work with partners and representatives across the region.

Ruth Brown, Chief Executive of Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are so proud to be selected as regional champions for the work we’ve done across the Trust to support our children and families.

“We’re actively collaborating with families and communities to find ways to reduce the impact of health inequalities every time we see a family. We want to make their experiences and access better in every way – as well as addressing the root causes and investing in the best things to support our children, young people and families.

“Not only have we seen an increase in families being able to attend outpatients and a number of families accessing the support whilst staying overnight, we’ve heard extremely positive feedback from communities and the people experiencing the support we’re providing which really makes the difference.”

Paul Blomfield, MP for Sheffield Central who nominated Sheffield Children’s, said: “I was delighted to nominate the Children’s Hospital for an Excellence in Healthcare award for their work to reduce health inequalities across Sheffield. It’s improved access to support and made a real difference to the lives of children and young people in their care, as well as their families. This regional recognition is well deserved and I wish them the best of luck in the national awards.”