SARD is delighted to announce that The SARD Workforce Optimisation Service and Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust has been shortlisted for two awards at the HSJ Partnership Awards recognising an outstanding dedication to improving healthcare and effective collaboration with the NHS. The two nominations are for Best Consultancy Partnership with the NHS as well as Workforce and Wellbeing Initiative of the Year.

Now in its seventh year, 228 entries have been received for this year’s Partnership Awards, with 188 projects and individuals meriting inclusion on the final shortlist, The high volume – and exceptional quality – of applications once again mirrors the impressive levels of innovation and care continually being developed across the UK’s healthcare system.

Following the thorough judging process, SARD and Oxleas were shortlisted, ahead of the official awards ceremony to be held next year (21 March), with its SARD Workforce Optimisation standing out as a real ‘success story’ worthy of a prized place on the panel’s shortlist.

SARD worked in partnership with Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust to strengthen their approach to Consultant Medical Job Planning by developing patient-based demand models for their clinical teams. The initiative has helped the Trust to understand whether its current workforce meets the needs of the patients, helping to identify gaps in capacity to inform future recruitment strategies and decisions to right-size the workforce and consider new ways of working.

Brian Jones, Medical Workforce Expert at SARD comments, “This really is such exciting news! Being shortlisted for two awards in the HSJ Partnership Awards 2024 shows a stamp of approval for the work that we strive to deliver and is recognition for all the hard work of both our team and our NHS partners.

“Whatever the result ‘on the night’, we already feel like winners for getting this far and are so proud to have the opportunity to share our success with colleagues from across the entire sector, as well as showcasing everything we’ve learnt through implementing our project.”

HSJ editor Alastair McLellan, adds; “It always gives me great pleasure to congratulate our finalists at this stage of the judging process and this year is no exception as we acknowledge SARD and Oxleas for being shortlisted in two categories.

“The calibre of entries left our panel of expert judges with some tough decisions to deliberate over. However, it’s always important to remember that the HSJ Partnership Awards are not just a celebration of success stories, but also a platform to shape the future collaboration within the NHS.

“We can’t wait to welcome our finalists to the awards ceremony in March and to recognise and applaud such impressive achievements across the sector.”

The selected winners will be announced during the awards ceremony at Evolution London on March 21 2024.

The 2023 awards judging panel was once again made up of a diverse range of highly influential and respected figures within the healthcare community, including; Tosca Fairchild, Chief of Staff, South East London ICB, Matthew Hopkins, Chief Executive, Mid and South Essex NHS FT, Shabina Azmi, Chief Pharmacist, Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB, Professor Edward Kunonga, Director of Population Health Management, NENC ICB and NECS, as well as a range of esteemed healthcare leaders from across the UK.

The full list of nominees for the 2024 HSJ Partnership Awards can be found at https://partnership.hsj.co.uk/.