Sherwood Forest Hospitals wins Trust of The Year in HSJ national awards

Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is celebrating after being awarded the prestigious “Acute or Specialist Trust of the Year” honour at this year’s Health Service Journal Awards (Wednesday 17 March). The HSJ awards are the most coveted accolade in UK healthcare and Trust of the Year is the most prestigious category within these awards.

In the shortlist for the award were Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, St. Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust, and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.

The award comes a week after Sherwood was rated the third best Trust in the NHS to work or receive care in and less than a year since King’s Mill Hospital was rated Outstanding by the CQC.

The three reasons presented for Sherwood to win the award were:

1. The wellbeing of all colleagues is at the centre of their decision making
2. Their community response to Covid
3. Sherwood is the most improved NHS Trust in the last five years

The Trust would like to extend special recognition to Julian Kinsey, a patient at Sherwood, who was part of the group who presented.

Chief Executive, Richard Mitchell said: “I am so proud of what colleagues at Sherwood have achieved. To win HSJ Trust of the Year in a year when Covid has placed unprecedented pressure on all of us, the NHS and the world, feels particularly special.

“This win is a huge accolade for Sherwood and this belongs to the colleagues and volunteers who work at Sherwood, the patients we care for, our communities and our friends and family.

 “Whilst colleagues have cared for our patients over the last year, I am proud that as a Trust we have cared for our colleagues, with a strong focus on their wellbeing.

“We have received a range of external accolades recently, which demonstrate how special Sherwood is as a place to work and to receive care. When we combine this award with the CQC’s rating of our Trust, and our annual NHS staff survey results which rate  Sherwood as the best Trust in the Midlands and third in the country, we have a lot to be proud about at the moment.

“I would also like to thank our community which has supported us so much over the last year, and the partners that we work with in health and social care. We are not able to operate successfully without working closely with our colleagues across Nottinghamshire and beyond.

“Real change does not happen overnight. This award is because of the efforts of so many over the last ten years and beyond, but anything is possible if you look after the people around you. Sherwood has a strong future ahead of us.”

HSJ editor, Alistair McLellan, comments: “Following what was undoubtedly the most challenging year for the NHS, it was impressive to see the commitment to excellence shown by the finalists.

“The high quality of entrants in 2020 posed a real challenge to our expert judging panel, who were impressed by the breadth of applications demonstrating real evidence of improvements to patient care.

“We know that Sherwood Forest Hospitals is not alone in fostering a culture of excellence and hope that this award win will be a source of inspiration for like-minded teams across the country. We are delighted that the HSJ Awards continue to be considered the gold standard awards programme in healthcare. Congratulations again to Sherwood Forest Hospitals and welcome to the HSJ Awards Alumni!”   

Over 4,500 health and social care staff “tuned in” to the first virtual HSJ Awards evening to celebrate the dedication, innovation, and teamwork within the health care community. Hosted by comedian, actor and charity campaigner, Sir Lenny Henry, alongside award-winning journalist and broadcaster, Victoria Derbyshire, the awards ceremony celebrated the diligent and selfless work of our healthcare heroes over the past 12 months – a year which has been one of the most demanding on record for the NHS.

The full list of winners for the 40th HSJ Awards (partnered by GRI) can be found on https://awards.hsj.co.uk/winners-2020.

For reference, Sherwood Forest Hospitals' HSJ presentation can be downloaded here.