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Epsom and St Helier hospitals and community services have been shortlisted in the prestigious ‘Trust of the Year’ category at the national HSJ awards, recognising an outstanding contribution to healthcare.

Despite tough competition from over 1,000 entries, Epsom and St Helier have made it through to the select final stage, having been shortlisted because of the organisation’s ‘ambition, visionary spirit and demonstrable positive impact’ on patient and staff experiences within the health service.  

Chief Executive Daniel Elkeles said: “We are delighted to be named as finalist for the Trust of the Year award. This is a proud day for Epsom and St Helier, and I hope this recognition of our hard work and commitment will be a boost to our incredible staff after a very challenging year.

“Five years ago, we set out an ambitious strategy to improve health and community care for the people we serve, as well as securing a sustainable future for our hospitals and services. Since then, with the support and commitment of our staff, we have achieved an incredible amount and have made real improvements to the way we provide services for our patients. Looking back on the challenges we have overcome and progress made, we know there is something special about what we have collectively achieved, and are so pleased to see that is recognised by the expert judges at the HSJ.”

Some of the highlights include:

• Secured £500 million of Government funding to build a new Specialist Emergency Care Hospital and a further £100 million to address current hospital estate challenges at both Epsom and St Helier.
• Launched a huge programme to improve culture and morale amongst staff, introducing a new value of RESPECT that was co-designed with our teams, resulting in the best staff and patient survey results in the history of the Trust, reflecting improvements across the board.
• Introducing successful integrated care models, which bring together acute care, community and social care, as the provider lead Sutton Health and Care and Surrey Downs Health and Care. As a result, we have seen a consistent reduction in hospital admissions for the over 65s.
• We achieved a CQC Good rating, including Good for being well led and use of resources. Our maternity services and South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre have been rated Outstanding.
• We have recruited 400 additional clinical staff, halving our vacancy rate.
• And finally, we made a surplus to our budget in 2019-20 for the first time ever.

Now in its 40th year, the HSJ Awards is the largest annual benchmarking and recognition programme for healthcare. Through a rigorous, fair and transparent judging process the awards produce a roll call of the best organisations, teams and people in the NHS and the wider health sector.

The full list of finalists for the 2020 HSJ Awards can be found on https://awards.hsj.co.uk/2020-shortlist. Winners will be selected ahead of the ceremony, which will take place virtually in March 2021.