NHS Communications Initiative of the Year Award

NHS Communications Initiative of the Year Award
NHS Communications Initiative of the Year Award
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Communications in the NHS goes beyond reputation management. It's about engaging patients, staff, local communities, and external organisations. Effective communications can significantly impact staff morale, retention, and recruitment, while also guiding patients to the right services and helping them manage their health. Whether supporting change, celebrating success, or providing timely information through innovative channels, communications are key to improving NHS outcomes.

This award recognises initiatives that demonstrate clear, measurable impact in reaching targeted audiences and driving meaningful change. Judges will be looking for creative, innovative approaches that deliver tangible results and showcase how communication strategies can shape better healthcare delivery. 

Eligibility

All public sector NHS organisations, General Practice, primary care and community organisations.

Ambition

The challenge and context within which your project, person or organisation is set alongside your goals and targets whether quantitative or qualitative, and how this aligns with national priorities.

  • Describe your communications initiative, including what you set out to achieve and why this approach was needed
  • What changes were made to your communications strategy, and what made this new or distinct from existing practice?
  • What were your measures of success, and what benchmarks were used to monitor effectiveness?

Collaboration

The stakeholders' involvement in co-designing and delivering the project. How have patients, staff at all levels, communities and other parties worked together to realise the outcomes?

  • Describe how the organisation worked with external agencies, other trusts or wider partners to achieve its outcomes
  • Judges will be looking for evidence of a consultative approach, demonstrating that the changes made were grounded in research and insight
  • How were staff, patients and communities involved in shaping the initiative, and how was their input used to inform the strategy?

Impact

The measurable benefits delivered to patients, staff, your organisation or the wider system. Provide data and evidence showing improvements to outcomes, quality, access, equity or efficiency.

  • Judges are looking for quantitative evidence of improvements in outcomes for patients or staff as a result of communications and messaging
  • Describe how the initiative was implemented to achieve these results, and provide testimonial evidence supporting your work
  • How has the initiative contributed to improvements in patient outcomes, cultural change, public behaviour change or NHS efficiency?

Scale

How your work has been shared, adopted or replicated beyond your immediate team or organisation. This includes dissemination through publications, presentations, toolkits, partnerships or inspiring similar initiatives elsewhere.

  • How has this initiative been rolled out across your organisation?
  • What efforts have been made to share best practice with others across the NHS?
  • What evidence is there that this approach could be replicated and effective elsewhere?

Sustainability

The potential for the project/work to continue and create lasting impact. Evidence of how it can be sustained or built upon.

  • How is the communications initiative being embedded into the ongoing work of the organisation, and what resource is in place to sustain it?
  • How does this initiative contribute to longer-term improvements in how the organisation engages with staff, patients and communities?
  • What evidence is there that this work can be built upon or adapted by other teams or organisations?

To find out more

Partnership opportunities:  Sponsorship Sales Team
Awards entry enquiries: Delegate Sales Team
Judging and event management: Awards Support